A Review of Farm Tractor Overturning Accidents and Safety
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Abstract:
Tractor rollover occurs when a tractor tips sideways or backwards and overturns, potentially crushing the operator. Rollovers are typically considered to occur more frequently during a sharp turn at a high speed on sloping terrains, although data show that rollovers do occur on flat land after hitting obstacles or through inappropriate use and hitching of implements. It is important to highlight that tractor overturns are the major cause of death in farm operations. The overturns are as a result of interactions between the tractor operator, the tractor and the environment. A review of the relevant literature reveals that more than 800 people are killed each year in tractor accidents, and for every person killed, at least 40 others are injured. This paper focuses on tractor overturns because they account for more than half of all the tractor-related deaths. In addition, farm tractor operational safety principles are also highlighted.Keywords:
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Madam, The role of machinery, especially that of tractors, as a leading cause of farm-related injuries has been well documented by many authors1-5. In most of these reports, injuries have occurred in children while performing farm chores, due to lack of supervision. We want to notify a different way of tractor injury taking place not in farms, but mostly on roads and streets. Tractor ‘accidents account for 14% of our childhood trauma cases. Their mean PTS (pediatric trauma score) is around 8.5 and mortality in tractor injuries is approximately 8%. Those figures may cot be surprising for Turkey, as a developing country where most of the population deals with farming. But unacceptable is that, besides, farm-related works, tractors are frequently used as transport vehicles on streets and roads even in heavy traffic, especially in summer and fall. With or without a trailer, they are mostly overcrowded and driven full speed by and excited young man who is not used to, and occasionally unlicensed to drive in road traffic. Injuries occur by falling off or being rolled over by the tractor, where the latter has an increased mortality. Prevention of those unacceptable injuries needs to be emphasized by legislators, educators and communication media as well as physicians. The laws allowing the tractors to transport people should be reexamined. Alternative transport vehicles should be provided to farm workers especially in summer and fall. Farm workers should be instructed about the danger of transporting on a tractor and be emphasized about safety habits and first aid precautions.
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In this study, we analyzed and investigated the 93 cases of agricultural accidents by machines about which we could get information of that occurred in the prefecture of Toyama in 1971.(1) The injured in these accidents were 90 in nummber. 33 of them are now suffering from lasting damage and 11 of them are not clear in thire condition. It is the most important subject for the promotion of agricultural that 37% of them are suffering from lasting damages.(2) When these accidents are classsfied by the kinds of machines, 36 cases in these accidents occurred by combine, 14 cases by trailer, 11 cases by riding-tractor, 9 cases by binder, 8 cases by walking-tractor and 15 cases by others, Accidents by combine formed 39% of all accidents. This percentage is higher than 32% in 1970. This fact indicates that the safety measure of combine must be considered.(3) The causes of accidents is mainly in the human factor.This is proved by the fact that 74 (84% in injured) get hurt by the carelessness and the unskilled operations of machines.(4) The accidents of which main causes come from machine is only 8 cases (about 9%) in all, and this menber is small against our expectation.As it be shown in the accidents by combine, accidents from carelessness while supplementary operations has intimate relation to a subconscious causes of an imperfect function of machines. The accidents of this kind may be preveuted by the improvement of machines.(5) About a half of the accidents by combines cut off the farmer's fingers. It will affect his work in the future. These accidents can be classified in two or three kinds. In order to check these accidents, it is natural that we must improve the function and the safety of the machines.(6) About a half of the accidents by riding-tractor occurred while preparatory work in the barn, for example, exchanged the attachment or the wheels. The complete direction for handling the heary things and for using the tools must be done.(7) Most of the accidents by walking-tractor while trawmited on a farm road. In many of these accident farmers fingers were cut off by touching to running belt. We indicate that it must be legally regulated to cover the belt and the flywheel of the engine.(8) 9 cases in 14 accidents by trailer occurred while trailer was running, especially on ordinary roads. Trailer is not only agricultural machine, but also a kind of vehicle. So it is necessary to attach the eqwpments for running, for example, bachmirrors and direction-indicators.
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ABSTRACT Fatal and nonfatal injuries occur on catfish farms as a result of tractor overturns, but these injuries can be greatly mitigated when a tractor is equipped with a rollover protective structure (ROPS) and seatbelt. This study analyzed the proportion of tractors on catfish farms in Mississippi not equipped with ROPS and the cost of retrofitting those tractors with a ROPS and seatbelt as compared to the expected benefits gained from adding the protection. To determine if farmers have the financial incentive to retrofit older tractors, a net present value framework was used because the expected benefits occur over a number of years. The ROPS retrofit is a one-time cost that occurs immediately, and thus the present value does not need to be calculated, i.e., time period 0. According to this study adding ROPS will provide a net benefit of $22,877 in the event of an overturn. When dealing with small farms (<125 acres) where an average tractor is used for approximately twice as many hours compared to an average tractor on large farms, the extra hours worked by a single tractor resulted in total benefits of retrofitting ROPS of $9.45 per year, whereas for large farms the net benefit is $4.70 (=125 acres). Given that the least expensive retrofit is $147, it would take 15.5 years of tractor use on the small farms for the expected benefits to outweigh the cost. Given the large range of costs that could occur due to an overturn, there could be a significant premium for not having ROPS protection. In other words, there likely is a smaller range of costs from an overturn with ROPS than without ROPS because ROPS reduces the more serious incidents.
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Retrofitting
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Since occupational accidents often occur in farm tractor drivers, it is extremely important to focus the attention on specific devices in order to avoid risks from tractor overturning. This phenomenon is actually considered as the leading cause of deaths or injuries related to agricultural work. The system adopted to reduce the above-mentioned risk consists of passive protection devices aimed at preventing the hazardous event which may affect workers’ health. More precisely, the tractor chassis (i.e. ROPS) and the proper seat belt define a “safety volume” around the worker. The aim of the present research is to carry out tests on narrow-track wheeled tractors with fixed roll over protective structures in those areas – such as hazel and olive groves and vineyards - where problems related to under–tree activities occur. This is to implement planting layout and/or cultivation techniques which can be considered suitable for tractors with roll over protective structures. According to that, their project parameters – i.e. safety volume, seat position and typology, test methods - can be successfully modified and improved. The results show that nowadays only a few agricultural vehicles are provided with specific fixed devices able to work under tree without damaging orchards.
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To examine the effects of different geometries and mass specifications of a tractor operating across irregular sloping grounds on the lateral stability of this machine, a dynamic model was developed. In the proposed model, overturn and skid instabilities were studied and the tractor stability indexes were formulated (i.e. TSI_{overturn} and TSI_{skid}). Using a modified Excel spreadsheet package employing the parameters of the model, the TSIs were then determined. Finally, the effects of variation in the parameters of the model on TSIs were evaluated. The results of the analyses indicate that changing the tractor mass moment of inertias about the x- and y-axes had no influence on TSI_{skid}, whereas increasing the tractor mass moment of inertias about the x-axis by 71% led to a 2.5% reduction of TSI_{overturn} and increasing the tractor mass moment of inertias about the y-axis by 71% led to a 1.8% reduction of TSI_{overturn}. However, increasing the wheel-ground coefficient of friction from 0.34 to 0.84 improved TSI_{skid} by up to 27%. Moreover, the effect of tractor wheel track width and the height of its center of gravity on TSI_{overturn} was greater than the effect of the tractor wheel base on this stability index. Therefore, the best strategy for stabilizing a tractor against overturn is to lower the tractor's center of gravity and increase the tractor's wheel track width simultaneously.
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Skid (aerodynamics)
Automobile handling
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