Farmer Crushed Under
Broken Corn Planter

During the spring of 1999 a farmer was killed while he was repairing a broken corn planter. The man and his father had just begun to plant corn on their 400-acre farm. The victim’s father was driving a tractor pulling the 8-row planter, full of seed corn and fertilizer. The victim was driving another tractor and cultivator. After planting only five acres, the planter broke down at the end of a row. Several 19 mm (¾ inch) diameter bolts attaching the tongue to the toolbar had broken, and the planter toolbar had dropped down slightly, yet was still holding together. The father drove the planter to the farmyard and his son followed, planning to repair the planter immediately if possible. The planter was parked in a driveway, and the victim crawled underneath to assess the damage. While lying on the ground he could see he needed a long bolt to pull the machine back together. Suddenly without warning, the planter buckled in the region of the broken bolts, and the toolbar and tongue folded upon each other. The entire weight of the planter fell with the toolbar, and the farmer was crushed and killed immediately underneath. The victim’s father rushed to call 911, then used two jacks to raise the toolbar off his son. However, rescue efforts were ineffective, and the farmer was dead at the scene. No jacks or blocks were used under the planter before the farmer crawled underneath.

#1 Owners / operators of farm equipment should never work under machines without appropriate support or bracing.

• Hurried workers often do not take adequate precautions to support machinery.
  
• The victim was probably unaware of the extreme stress on the bolts holding the tongue to the toolbar. He crawled underneath without thinking about safety.
  
• Jacks were readily available and could have been used to support the machine.
  
• But jacks alone are inadequate, since they often tip or slide out of place. Solid blocking with timbers or other materials is necessary when working under machinery.

#2 Manufacturers of farm equipment / implements should routinely review service calls for their machines and consider recalls or modifications as needed. 

• Several identical planters failed in the same fashion as this one, at the critical union of tongue and toolbar.
  
• This design put too much stress on the bolts leading to bolt failure and breakage.
  
• Newer planters from this manufacturer have re-designed with welded seams that virtually eliminate a similar accident.
  
• When companies are aware of weaknesses in machinery design, they should warn current customers of potential problems while making design improvements.