Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
January 23, 1998
NEW
YORK (Reuters) - Serious injuries and deaths among farmers
from accidents involving heavy hay bales can be prevented
by using tractors outfitted with the proper equipment, according
to this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
in Atlanta, Georgia.
Federal
occupational safety and health experts note that a key factor
in these accidents is the widespread use of baling machines
available since the mid-1970s - machines that produce large
round bales weighing between 750 and 1,500 pounds. At least
87 farm deaths involving heavy bales have occurred between
1980 and 1995.
In their
MMWR report, the experts cite cases in which deaths occurred
when a heavy bale fell backwards off a loader and onto a tractor
operator, when a tractor transporting a bale rolled over,
or when an unsecured bale fell from a transport trailer and
crushed a farm worker. "In general, bales can be transported
more safely by tractors equipped with rear attachments rather
than front-end loaders," a CDC editorial states. But the CDC
notes that if front-end loaders must be used to transport
large bales - round or square - they should be fitted with
attachments "specifically designed to secure large bales,
and loaders should not be raised or lowered while the tractor
is in motion."
The agency
also says all tractors should be equipped with a rollover protective
structure that surrounds the operator along with a seat belt.
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