Farmer Killed As He
Backs Tractor Into Tree

During the fall of 1998 a 65-year-old tractor operator was killed when he backed into a tree branch and was pinned between the branch and the tractor’s steering wheel. The tractor was a late 50’s model equipped with a front-end loader. The man was working for a trucking company which buys and resells corncobs. He was working alone loading corncobs into a grain truck at a private farm. The farm owner heard the tractor shut off in a normal fashion, and later found the man pinned under a low-hanging branch of a pear tree. The man's chest was crushed against the steering wheel and he was obviously dead at the scene. The tractor had been traveling backwards, slightly downhill at the time it hit the tree, and was at a distance from the corn cob pile that was further than necessary for loading. It appears the victim drove too far back while working and ran into the tree branch, however the ignition had been turned off and it remains unclear exactly what happened. The ground sloped slightly toward the tree, which was on the edge of a nine-foot drop-off. The tractor's brakes were later checked and were found to be normal in forward and reverse directions. Other controls on the tractor were also working properly. There was no ROPS on the tractor.

#1 All tractors should have a rollover protective structure (ROPS).

--Tractor rollover is the leading cause of fatalities in agriculture.
--ROPS can prevent injuries in other circumstances such as motor vehicle accidents, loads falling from a front end loader, and as in this case – protecting the operator from injury when driving into a tree branch or other object.
--If a ROPS had been installed on this tractor, this fatal injury would have been avoided.

#2 A careful site assessment should be conducted to determine the best locations for material piles, trucks and loaders.

--The truck was placed uphill from the corncobs, and loading required backing downhill towards the tree and the drop-off.
--This arrangement created a fairly short turning area between the corncob pile and the tree or the drop-off.
--When possible, materials should be piled and trucks placed so that loading can be done in safe conditions.