WARNING
Youth Farmworker Killed
By Unshielded PTO
In January 1999, a 17-year-old
high school student working part-time for a dairy farmer was killed
when his clothing was caught by the unshielded power take-off
(PTO) driveline of an old grinder-mixer. He had been helping the
farmer add sacks of feed supplement to ground corn in the mixer,
pouring the supplement directly into the hammer mill opening.
A feed supplement hopper was normally used for this task, however,
the discharge auger for this hopper was broken and beyond repair.
The hammer mill was not operating at this time. The mixing task
was almost complete and the farmer was closing the hammer mill
cover while the youth stood to his left, too close to the PTO
driveline in front of the flywheel. Although the flywheel itself
was disengaged (floating), the PTO driveline and unshielded flywheel
clutch were rotating at about 200 RPM. Suddenly the boy's jacket
became entangled around the driveline at the flywheel clutch,
and he was killed instantly. The implement-end half of the driveline
shield, as well as the shield covering the flywheel, had been
damaged and removed by the farmer 10 years prior to the incident.
-- A total shielding system
for a PTO driveline includes a tractor master shield, the PTO
driveline shield(s) and an implement shield.
--The boy's clothing was caught by an exposed spring-loaded drive-pin.
-- Additional shields may be necessary to protect workers from
exposure to other moving components such as flywheels, clutches,
drive belts, and pulleys.
#2: Workers must be trained to recognize the hazards
of working near exposed rotating machine parts
-- The PTO driveline and flywheel shields had been missing
the entire time the youth had worked at this farm.
-- Because of his age and inexperience, the youth did not realize
that missing PTO shields created a hazard.
-- The farmer was not aware of a serious entanglement hazard
because the tractor engine was only idling.
-- Even at idle speed an entanglement would occur instantly.
#3: Damaged machine components should be repaired /
maintained properly.
-- The discharge auger for the feed supplement hopper had
not been operable for 10 years.
-- Loading feed supplement into the hammer mill hopper was an
alternative way to mix feed, however this placed workers dangerously
close to rotating machine parts.
-- The power-input shaft mounted on the right side of the hammer
mill housing was rotating also.
