Farm youth dies after tractor she was driving rolled over on her.
NIOSH 2004 Feb; :1-3
A 12-year-old female (victim) died from injuries sustained when the tractor she was operating overturned. On the day of the incident, she was helping her father haul large bales from a farm field. Two flatbed wagons with bale racks were used to haul the bales and were hooked behind one tractor. Her father used the other tractor equipped with a bale fork to pick up the large bales and place them on the wagons. The victim's tractor was not equipped with a rollover protective structure (ROPS) and a seat belt. After the racks were full, the victim's father drove the tractor pulling the two wagons. His daughter drove the tractor with the front-end loader and began to follow him from the field. The victim's father drove the tractor pulling the two racks from the field via a field driveway and onto the public road. He drove a short distance down the road and turned the tractor into the farm site driveway. After turning into the driveway, he looked back and saw his daughter drive her tractor onto the road. As it entered the road the tractor turned to the right and entered the road ditch. She tried to steer the tractor back onto the road, however as she did the tractor rolled over. The victim's father returned to the scene and was met be a passing motorist. They used a towrope and the motorist's pickup to pull the tractor off the victim. Emergency personnel were notified of the incident and arrived approximately fifteen minutes after it occurred. They found that the victim was not breathing and did not have a pulse. During transport they were able to reestablish a pulse. She was then transferred to a major medical trauma center where she died three days after the incident. MN FACE investigators concluded that, in order to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences, the following guidelines should be followed: 1. all tractors should be equipped with a rollover protective structure and a seat belt; and 2. working youth should only be assigned age appropriate tasks.
Region-5; Accident-analysis; Accident-prevention; Accidents; Injuries; Injury-prevention; Traumatic-injuries; Work-operations; Work-analysis; Work-areas; Work-performance; Work-practices; Safety-education; Safety-equipment; Safety-measures; Safety-monitoring; Protective-measures; Agricultural-workers; Agricultural-industry; Agricultural-machinery; Agriculture; Equipment-operators; Equipment-reliability; Farmers; Tractors; Personal-protection; Personal-protective-equipment; Protective-equipment
Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Minnesota Department of Health