Farmer Grading Field Pinned Under Overturned Tractor

The following report is the product of our Cooperative State partner and is presented here in its original unedited form from the state. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the individual Cooperative State partner and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

SUMMARY

In the winter of 2010, a 71-year-old male farmer died when he was pinned by a tractor that overturned while grading a hay field edge next to a ditch. The decedent was operating a narrow-front (tricycle) tractor that was equipped with a home-made wooden push blade. The decedent was grading a field next to a ditch to lower a "dirt hill". He had made several passes. He was traveling east when the front of his tractor began to slide down into the ditch (Figure 1). The decedent was unable to jump off the tractor as the tractor overturned and the tractor came to rest on top of him. The decedent had been observed by a neighbor who was driving past. When the neighbor returned approximately 15 minutes later, she saw the overturned tractor and called for emergency response. Emergency response arrived and declared him dead at the scene.

Farmer Grading Field Pinned Under Overturned Tractor [PDF 428 KB]