That last step might kill you....

[dmccarty]

My area has had quite a few tractor deaths and injuries lately....

One was a guy who had is foot and hand taken off in a chipper.

The latest one and the strangest is http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/27/704921/rameses-owner-fights-for-his-life.html.

This farmer owns the Ram that is the mascot for UNC in Chapel Hill. He missed the last step getting off of his tractor a few weeks ago and bruised his hip. He is in CRITICAL condition and it does not sound good.

Hogan, 54, was working late one evening and was getting off the tractor when he missed the last step, landing hard on his left leg. It didn't seem that bad, his wife, Ann, wrote later on the online journal CaringBridge.
By the next morning, however, Hogan's leg was numb, and he couldn't move it. An ambulance took him to UNC Hospitals, where doctors have been treating him for rhabdomyolysis.


The condition is caused when the tissue around an injured muscle starts to die and releases toxins into the body that can damage the kidneys.
Chris Hogan, who lives nearby, was at Hogan's Magnolia View Farm all last week helping family, friends and neighbors get in the hay, milk the cows and feed the animals.
...

Since the fall, Rob Hogan has had several tests and surgeries, said Ann's sister-in-law, Regina Leonard. Doctors have removed part of his left hip and upper leg, and he's on dialysis. The damage has spread to his abdomen, too, forcing the removal of a large part of his colon and intestines. His kidneys are not functioning, Leonard said.


Late this week, Hogan opened his eyes slightly and squeezed the nurse's hand, Leonard said. By the weekend, he was breathing more on his own, with help from the respirator, although he remained unconscious. "We're very cautiously optimistic," Leonard said. "They are basically going to do surgery on him every day for the next week."
​

I will admit that I kinda jump off the tractor. The only time it has been a problem is when I landed on a rounded over itty bitty rock that I could not see and my boot twisted to the side when I landed. Kinda sprained the ankle a bit but not bad.

To think you could fall and be in the ICU.....

NEVER would have guessed that could happen.

Later,
Dan

 

[Thomas]

Dang..speedy recovery wishes to gent.

I really never gave it much thought jump or missing step over the years..just bumps/lumps from skinning flesh along w/some special words.

Heard of many jumping etc from equipment ending up w/hernia's.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I dread missing the step on the way up and hitting it with my shin instead. Going down I'd expect a sprained ankle...broken hip or arm at the worst...this fellow really had bad luck to get this unusual complication.
BOB

 

[J_J]

Yes, it is us older folks that do not spring back from falls, etc, like in our younger days.. Just simple falls, breaks and bruises will put us down. Those on coumadin should be careful about blood type injuries.

 

[MossRoad]

I also notice older folks reluctance to see a doctor for something they may think is not serious, while people my age and younger tend to see the doctor for every little ache and pain. I think older people are just plain tougher than my generation.

I remember my grandma calling my dad because she thought she MAY have to do to the doctor. My dad went over there and she was in screaming agony. Seems she fell down the stairs to their 2nd floor apartment, broke her hip, then scooted herself back up the steps and stayed in the house for a few days thinking it would get better! :shocked: She had to go to a rehab home for 6 weeks and hated it. About 5-6 years later, she had built a house next door to us. I was out in the yard and heard some whimpering. I looked over and she was scooting herself along the ground backwards towards her house. I ran over and it seems she fell off her porch and landed funny. She said she thought she broke her hip again and begged me not to tell my daddy because she would have to go to the rehab home again. I had to tell my dad, she had to go to rehab again. She was not happy. Tough old woman! I miss her a lot.

 

[farmfun]

Yes, it is us older folks that do not spring back from falls, etc, like in our younger days.. Just simple falls, breaks and bruises will put us down. Those on coumadin should be careful about blood type injuries.

Hear, Hear (or Read, Read) whichever makes this memorable - sometimes it does't take much at all, just stumbing over a tree limb during chain sawing - can screw you up

 

[rswyan]

Yes, it is us older folks that do not spring back from falls, etc, like in our younger days.. Just simple falls, breaks and bruises will put us down. Those on coumadin should be careful about blood type injuries.

This is exactly what happen with my elderly mother, back a few years before she passed.

She was on Coumadin for some recent medical thing and was at home - house has a sunken living room (one step) and she missed the step and fell ..... ended up with a large bruise on her right knee ...... this eventually formed a large blood blister - about the size of a baseball or softball - which had to be surgically removed.

 

[Rickstir]

I have a knee replacement in my left knee. I am supposed to go "down steps" including the last step on the tractor with my replaced knee leg, using the good knee to control evferything. This is ingrained in my thinking after six years with the new knee. On the way down I have both feet on the last step, both hands on the handles, and ease my way down. Every single time I dismount. Can't be too careful.

 

[brin]

I can't stress enough how really dangerous it is getting off your tractor especially for those with larger tractors...You are usually tired and ready to call it a day and you can easily catch your foot on one of the bedals or levers or the steps themselves and take a header onto the ground or any equipment that happens to be around. Two times now I have come close to taking a tumble when getting off the tractor..and I am in good shape with real good knees..I just was in a hurry, tired and not paying attention. Be careful.

 

[RoyJackson]

I can't stress enough how really dangerous it is getting off your tractor especially for those with larger tractors...You are usually tired and ready to call it a day and you can easily catch your foot on one of the bedals or levers or the steps themselves and take a header onto the ground or any equipment that happens to be around. Two times now I have come close to taking a tumble when getting off the tractor..and I am in good shape with real good knees..I just was in a hurry, tired and not paying attention. Be careful.

Yep, and watch out for boot laces too...especially if you have a gear shift lever on the transmission tunnel.

 

[dmccarty]

Yep, and watch out for boot laces too...especially if you have a gear shift lever on the transmission tunnel.

Long coats and chainsaw chaps can snag as well.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

FYI,

The farmer that was hurt by falling off the tractor died this past Friday.

Later,
Dan

 

[The Haymaker]

YouTube - Three Point Exit

I am the regional safety trainer for the company I work for. Yeah, I'm talking trucks not tractors, but it's all the same. In the trucking industry, the BIGGEST killer of drivers is slips and falls, with lack of Three Points of Contact being the root cause.

It's hard to break habits, but with practice at first it'll come with time. Turn and face the tractor, always have three points contacting the unit. One hand two feet, two hands one foot, etc. One other "step" often "missed" is glance at the ground and know where you are going to place your foot. This eliminates slips, trips and falls caused by items on the ground.

I'm 6'2" and can step in and out of these trucks and can jump into the tail of a trailer. I can retrain myself, anyone can!

Wish I could find Kellers "Johnny Jumper" video on 3poc. Much more entertaining that FritoLay's version.

 

[MossRoad]

YouTube - Three Point Exit

I am the regional safety trainer for the company I work for. Yeah, I'm talking trucks not tractors, but it's all the same. In the trucking industry, the BIGGEST killer of drivers is slips and falls, with lack of Three Points of Contact being the root cause.

It's hard to break habits, but with practice at first it'll come with time. Turn and face the tractor, always have three points contacting the unit. One hand two feet, two hands one foot, etc. One other "step" often "missed" is glance at the ground and know where you are going to place your foot. This eliminates slips, trips and falls caused by items on the ground.

I'm 6'2" and can step in and out of these trucks and can jump into the tail of a trailer. I can retrain myself, anyone can!

Wish I could find Kellers "Johnny Jumper" video on 3poc. Much more entertaining that FritoLay's version.

Stop that video at 1:44 and 1:45.... the trainer is doing it wrong! Only two points of contact as he jumps off the last step. :laughing:

 

[MikeD74T]

This summer one of our company drivers was severly injured exiting his truck. He was directed to stay in his cab while being loaded by a crane. For some reason he decided to step onto the running board to watch. As he stepped out he perceived the load was sliding toward him (which was not) so he jumped down to run away from the truck. He stumbled as he landed running & ran head down & face first into a concrete/pipe bollard guarding a fire hydrant. Broke his jaw, knocked out several teeth, split his hardhat & ended up with a severe concussion (and an ambulance ride). 3 point exit could have prevented the whole thing, as could have following direction to stay in the truck. MikeD74t

 

[The Haymaker]

Stop that video at 1:44 and 1:45.... the trainer is doing it wrong! Only two points of contact as he jumps off the last step. :laughing:

Yeah, poor trainer, for sure. I found another one after the fact that was much better. I also like the loose top step and squawking seat suspension that would drive me crazy.

He also did not look to see where his feet were going to hit the ground. He obviously has not yet rolled an ankle exiting a truck.

 

[The Haymaker]

This summer one of our company drivers was severly injured exiting his truck. He was directed to stay in his cab while being loaded by a crane. For some reason he decided to step onto the running board to watch. As he stepped out he perceived the load was sliding toward him (which was not) so he jumped down to run away from the truck. He stumbled as he landed running & ran head down & face first into a concrete/pipe bollard guarding a fire hydrant. Broke his jaw, knocked out several teeth, split his hardhat & ended up with a severe concussion (and an ambulance ride). 3 point exit could have prevented the whole thing, as could have following direction to stay in the truck. MikeD74t

Ouch. We've had two bad ones in the last five years. One was one of our "turners of steering wheels" who no longer works for us. He was ugly for being sent back out after he finished "his job" during a snow storm. Knowing the individual's short fused temperament, I think it's safe to say he was spending more time griping than focusing on what he should be doing. He slipped off the back of the truck he neglected to clean the snow from, fell, hanging onto the door strap with one hand and snagging the tail of the truck on the way down. The door slammed his wrist, crushing it. He almost lost the hand do to compartmental syndrome.

The other was our oldest driver. I mean that only in the fact the man had an unbelievable driving history, 41 years without a single fleet loss. He was a man very set in his ways. Take him out of his groove or his truck and the mental perfection seemed to disappear. Anyway, he was in a different truck that was missing the second section of deck plate behind the cab. He stopped 120 miles south of his terminal to check the electrical pigtail. At some point, while not using 3poc, he stepped in the hole where the deck was missing and fell all the way to the ground, pinballing his way around the other deck, driveshaft and driveline. He broke a few ribs and lacerated an arm to the bone. he then proceeded to drive the truck all the way back (Had to get the load back, that's commitment!) and found he was in so much pain he couldn't get out of the truck. I got to work in time to come around the corner, unaware of the goings on, to see the meds trying to get him on a backboard within the confines of a daycab.

 

[Mace Canute]

Three points of contact...something I learned early on in my career as a Lineman. Climbing steel latticework towers using stepbolts in the corner angle iron support leg required us to always have at least three poc and we would never grab the stepbolt itself, always the big angle iron itself. The thinking was, if it broke for whatever reason, it would be better to be hanging onto something solid rather than having it come off in your hand just as you were reaching up to grab the next one.

A person should never be in a hurry to get on or off any equipment (well, maybe if Yellow Jackets are after you!). Being in a hurry just increases your momentum and makes it all that much harder to catch yourself when the stupidest little thing catches you up.