Farm tractor fatality reports repeat themselves year after year.
Farm tractor fatality reports repeat themselves year after year. Mowing along road banks, stream and pond borders, and other embankments often tragically results in tractor overturns.
Dennis J. Murphy, Nationwide Insurance Professor of Agricultural Safety and Health has promoted use of ROPS equipped tractors and seatbelt use for many years. The ROPS fitted tractor and seatbelt provides a “zone of protection” to the operator should a rollover occur.
Josh McCleester, pictured, a central Pennsylvania resident, offers a testimonial to the life-saving advantage of a ROPS tractor and use of the tractor’s seatbelt. Josh stated, “The overgrown culvert along a road embankment provided the perfect scenario for the tractor and brush hog mower to roll over and down the steep embankment. Although the tractor was upside down, I was able to shut the engine off, and eventually free myself from the seatbelt and crawl from underneath the tractor to call for help.” What better advice could we give, the ROPS and seatbelt use saved McCleester’s life.
Older model tractors are often part of the fatality scenario reported to us each year. These older model tractors can often be retrofitted with a ROPS and seatbelt. The ROPS Retrofit Project in Pennsylvania can help you find out if your tractor can be fitted with a ROPS and how cost-sharing can make this safety feature affordable to you. Visit the Ag Safety website to learn more about the PA ROPS Retrofit Campaign or to become a sponsor of a ROPS for a farmer in Pennsylvania. Don’t be a tractor rollover statistic; consider a ROPS for your older model tractor.
Source:psu.edu