The Ten Commandments of Tractor Safety

**ladycat** · #1 02/03/10, 05:49 PM

There are an estimated 800 fatal farm accidents every year and more than 9,000 injuries. Sad to relate, overturns accounted for nearly 50 percent of the tractor fatalities. Even sadder is the fact that the vast majority of them could—and should—have been prevented.

Accidents do not just “happen.” They are caused, which is why they can be prevented. An ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure.

PDF document at agdeal.com: http://www.agdeal.com/email_blasts/J...mmandments.pdf

**Ross** · #2 02/03/10, 05:59 PM

Buried down the page but its there. Talking about the PTO its not one of their commandments and it should be #1. Shut off the tractor before hooking up the PTO and shut off the PTO (and tractor if it's more than a minor adjustment) if you have to work on a machine. That shaft can kill you almost instantly.

Windy in Kansas · #3 02/04/10, 12:54 AM

Couple of years ago a fellow I grew up around was killed when he jumped across the solenoid of the starter and had not taken it out of gear before doing so. Diesel tractor so it started right up. I was told he was partially run over by the rear tractor tire and then the disk it was pulling ran over him too.

**fordson major** · #4 02/04/10, 07:11 AM

one of the worst parts of my job over the years, was teaching new drivers the ropes on the custom team i worked with. the absolute newbies wernt bad but some of the farm boys! had one kid i called the 747 pilot, wernt nuthin he could not do! (until he couldnt and i had too clean up the mess!) then there was the newbie that walked out onto a manure pit crust with a bunch of young kids watching, i think their ears is still ringing from my tearing the boy down!

woodsy · #5 02/04/10, 07:34 AM

Surprised they didn't mention drinking and driving.
Bad things can happen pretty fast on a tractor, too fast for a impaired driver to respond in time.

**fordson major** · #6 02/04/10, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodsy

Surprised they didn't mention drinking and driving.
Bad things can happen pretty fast on a tractor, too fast for a impaired driver to respond in time.

one of the absolute worst things i ever did was over work myself! would drive the beheamoth for 14 too 20 hour (andsometimes beyond!) streches, absolutly wrecked my health! some one else always did the road driving though!

one of the rigs i put way too many hours on! (though not me driving!)
http://www.youtube.com/user/Farmerknowsbest#p/u/126/tQrtyPpwypI

tinknal · #7 02/04/10, 02:19 PM

The article says All tractors are designed for one person and one person only.

How is one to teach someone to drive a tractor?

They also missed my major boo-boo (I was about 10 years old)

Never lift with the front end loader on an uneven surface.

FarmboyBill · #8 02/04/10, 04:35 PM

Lost my older brother, him setting on the fender of dads 37 WC AC. He had walked home nearly from school, when dad came out of the field and met him. He hopped on the tractor fender. Dad said he ought to cut across the pasture and bring the cows in with him. He said hed right home, and use his horse to go get the cows. They went down a hill on the county road where, at the bottom was an old bannister bridge. I think dad might have had it in neutral and coasting, but I dont know. I never thought to ask him what he was pulling. Anyway, at the bottom at the bridge, and with steel wheels, Bob bounced off and dad ran over his heart, killing him instantly. Last year, I was mowing with my Cub and belly mower. At the county part of my driveway, I got to close to the edge, and the Cub started to roll over to the left. I bailed and it rolled over. I think, if I had steared to the left and took it down as straight as I could have, I could have saved it, But, When youve had one brother killed, thats the first thing that comes into your mind, and bailing is the first thing you think about. When I was a kid in my early 20s, I had a F-20 Farmall. Anyone familiar with them, and those who are not, they have a large C drawbar. Most have a cross bar at the 2 points of the C. I had stuck a load of maybe 2 doz locust posts on under the drawbar. I went up a hill in the pasture, and the front, I thought came up. Scared me, so I killed the tractor. I sat there feeling silly as all seemed to be alright, and now I would have to crank it back up. When I inserted the crank and went around with it, and when I came up, so did the front end of the tractor. I took a bunch of the posts off and all was alright.

HermitJohn · #9 02/04/10, 05:02 PM

All farm tractors have a high center of gravity and will give you a crash course in physics if you arent thinking. Even experienced tractor drivers can get complacent and do dumb things, maybe because they got away with it one time in past. Try to break the laws of physics and you may well be summarily executed.....

pheasantplucker · #10 02/05/10, 07:41 AM

My friend's dad was killed back in '69. He was pulling a heavy log, with a chain along a flat piece of road. His mistake was he left too much distance between the hitch and the log. Should have had it closer (and thus higher). He came to a spot in the road where there was a big lip sticking up. He drove right over it, and when the butt of the log hit that lip, it dug in. Tractors are torqued way down, so that tractor reared up on him and flipped over breaking his neck instantly.

Curtis B · #11 02/05/10, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinknal

The article says All tractors are designed for one person and one person only.

How is one to teach someone to drive a tractor?

They also missed my major boo-boo (I was about 10 years old)

Never lift with the front end loader on an uneven surface.

A few years ago a friend of my wifes' family had his daughter on the tractor with him bush hoging. He hit a bump and she went off the tractor, and went over her with the mower. It was a very sad and gruesom day. I have had my daughter on with me, but never with an impliment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheasantplucker

My friend's dad was killed back in '69. He was pulling a heavy log, with a chain along a flat piece of road. His mistake was he left too much distance between the hitch and the log. Should have had it closer (and thus higher). He came to a spot in the road where there was a big lip sticking up. He drove right over it, and when the butt of the log hit that lip, it dug in. Tractors are torqued way down, so that tractor reared up on him and flipped over breaking his neck instantly.

Had someone north of here that died this week trying fo pull out a stuck jeep with an old Farmall, it flipped over backwards on him.

All and all, it doesn't matter how careful you are, somtimes you get lax, but sometimes accedents happen.

Windy in Kansas · #12 02/05/10, 10:33 AM

A Kansan was killed yesterday while towing a burned Jeep out of a pasture. The Jeep hit some ruts and the power of the tractor caused it to flip over backwards. '50s era International so no ROPS.

FarmboyBill · #13 02/05/10, 11:21 AM

sounds like the same incident

HermitJohn · #14 02/05/10, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

A Kansan was killed yesterday while towing a burned Jeep out of a pasture. The Jeep hit some ruts and the power of the tractor caused it to flip over backwards. '50s era International so no ROPS.

My guess is the guy was going too fast. Tractors arent sports cars and sure as heck dont handle like one. Old tractors are less stable than newer ones. If you were driving slow and your load suddenly bogged down or hung up, assuming you had chain attached properly, you would just spin the tires. Going fast and suddenly your load hangs tight, you got big problem.

Another stupid move along this same theme that I've seen people do is to hook a chain to a stump with lot slack in chain, then throttle up in a higher gear. When slack is taken up and stump doesnt move, guess what does move.....

**ladycat** · #15 02/05/10, 01:28 PM

My brothers were both taught to drive the tractors when they weren't more than 8 or 9 years old. I don't think they were in Jr High yet when they learned to operate more advanced equipment.

Back then, during harvest and haying seasons, it was very common to see young boys driving tractors, pickups, and other equipment up and down the highways and roads.

After reading the horror stories posted in this topic, I'm amazed nobody we knew ever got killed or injured.

**Ross** · #16 02/05/10, 04:25 PM

I was under 10 when I learned to operate the loader tractor loading hay stooks onto wagons. Simple enough reason I was too small to stack! Guess I did OK never hurt anyone even when I was flying around the field loading three wagons at once. Got so I could touch down a stook onto the load while the wagon was still moving. You come in at an angle from behind hoover the stook for a second and tap the bucket cyl and declutch at the same time so the forward movement of the wagon not only stripped off the stook but the stationary tractor forks flicked the stook a bit sideways on to the wagon. Except when I screwed up and it dumped off but that was a rarety. Couldn't do that today, I can barely get a stook onto the forks straight with a far better tractor!!! Now hauling home loads on the roads scared the jeepers outa me more often than not. It had to be fast and nothing we were using was under 30 years of age.

woodsy · #17 02/06/10, 07:25 AM

Had some close calls on tractors over the years , started driving them at about 12 yrs old,
worked dairy farming then.
The last 20 years off and on been logging with tractor, seen it rear up like a horse once or twice and teeter on the brink of roll over another time. Stuff can happen quick, ask me how i know and call me LUCKY.
Pulled up some stats and a link to farm AG related accidents which seem to be on a rise.

Quote:

According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, from 1992 to 2007 more than 8,000 farm workers died from work-related injuries in the U.S., with tractor overturn deaths accounting for an average of 96 deaths annually.

An ex-co worker lost her husband in a roll over here couple years back , they had been recently married and had a young child. Tragic.

Heres the link to the quoted text:

http://the-farmer.com/story.aspx/wor...dustry/9/31293

**Ross** · #18 02/06/10, 07:57 PM

The last fatal accident I remember here was a farm mechanic getting entangled with a running forage harvester he was adjusting. Young family too and such an avoidable loss. Just shut down the PTO and mind where you're standing (what you're wearing, and what's going to happen next) while the machine is operating.

**fordson major** · #19 02/07/10, 06:19 AM

other one was the drunk motor cycle driver that drove headlong into a manure tanker truck a friend of mine was driving!

dennis60 · #20 02/07/10, 11:29 AM

I read of many tractor accidents and fatalities. It is such a shame. When i was bush hogging a runaway bamboo "patch" a couple years ago, i couldn't see the telephone guide wire and i ran the tractor right up the wire. I was still on it and it must have been at well over a 45% angle when it stalled and stuck there. I worked for a couple hours to get the thing down....Scared me pretty bad, so i have really watched my p's and q's now on the tractor. one close call can become the last, by the smallest margin.