Tractor Operator Killed
While Moving A Trailer

During the winter of 1999 a man was killed while operating a narrow-front tractor at a rural business location in Iowa. The man was the owner of a sand blasting company and was in the process of moving a homemade trailer on his acreage. The trailer consisted of a large tank for sand, heavy-duty air handling hoses, filters, etc. It was made from a recycled anhydrous ammonia tank (blue tank in photo), and held three tons of sand when full. The single-axle trailer had dual tires and a pintel-type hitch for attachment to the rear of the compressor truck. It had previously been filled with sand by an employee who then parked the trailer in an undesirable location, slightly downhill from the main driveway.

The trailer had a high-mounted tongue, and the support jack for the tongue was in a raised position, therefore it was impossible to hook the trailer directly to the tractor draw bar. The man therefore attached a chain from the trailer tongue to the front-end loader bucket, lifted the tongue off the ground, then tried to back uphill with the tractor. Since the trailer was heavy, and the ground was covered with snow, the victim was having difficulty getting traction while backing uphill. Realizing he needed more power, he attached a 50-foot chain from the tractor draw bar to the rear of a compressor truck used in the business. The man’s wife drove the truck, following hand signals from her husband. The truck was positioned on the entrance road to the acreage, slightly at an angle from the tractor and the sandblasting trailer (see diagram). As they began to pull and move ahead, the truck turned slightly to its right down the driveway. This created a situation where the chains were pulling the tractor at an angle creating sideways forces at both attachment points. These new forces caused the tractor to overturn to its left side, killing the operator underneath. The tractor did not have a Roll Over Protective Structure (ROPS).

#1. To avoid overturns, operators of heavy equipment should pay special attention to the attachment points and direction of pull while towing other equipment.

• Towing heavy equipment can become hazardous if the powered vehicle is pulling at an angle or if attachment points are high off the ground. Attachment points should be kept below or near axle level.
• The possibility of creating dangerous sideways forces to the front and rear of the tractor was something that was not expected by the victim or his wife.
• This changed angle, tractor weight shifting to the narrow front wheels, the high front attachment point, and the sloping ground were accumulative factors sufficient to overturn the tractor.
• Even if visual communication between the drivers was maintained, there would likely not have been sufficient time to react and prevent the overturn.

#2. All tractors should be equipped with Roll Over Protective Structures (ROPS).

• ROPS are known to be nearly 100% effective in reducing deaths from tractor overturns.
• Risk factors for overturns include narrow front (tricycle design), using a front-end loader, and using the tractor (mowing) on sloping ground.

#3. Narrow-front (tricycle type) tractors should not be equipped with front-end loaders.

• The combination of having a front-end loader on a tricycle type tractor has been found to be fatal in previous FACE investigations (many of them).
• Tricycle-type tractors are more prone to overturns than wide-front tractors, and should not be used with front-end loaders or other attachments, which significantly change the machine’s center of gravity.
• Raising or supporting a heavy load with the front-end loader bucket shifts weight from the back wheels to the narrow front wheels and decreases the tractor’s stability.