Now I'm downright paranoid.

[Gfranklin]

Now I\'m downright paranoid.

Some one posted this link <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/injury/traumamcface.html>http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/injury/traumamcface.html</A> and it chilled me to the bone. I read these stories for three days. Not because I'm morbid or anything but because I kept recognizing situations in which I had probably been seconds away from a lot of these accidents myself - and didn't even know it.

Reading this put me in an ultra paranoid state and caused me to feel slightly uncomfortable the next time I was around the tractor. Reading this also caused me to reflect and and then talk about this to some of my farmer type friends. I never got to the second story before they rebutted with a story about someone they knew. A couple of ones I even remember the accident being on the local news. I once heard that farmers are in the same insurance category as test pilots.

I made several observations:

1) These accidents were numerous with many having very similiar circumstances, only dealt with fatalities-not the vastly greater number of injuries and only the investigated fatalities at that!

2) As a kid, I severely underestimated the danger presented by a rotating PTO shaft.

3) None of the tractor accident victims seemed to be wearing a seatbelt.

4)A large proportion of the accidents were witnessed by close family members.

5) A lot of the dangerous maneuvers were habitual.

Virtually every story left a moral or a point for me to try to incorporate in my routine. I have occasionally started my '51 JD B by standing beside it on the ground..no more (makes me want fenders now more than ever). I want to buy a tiltmeter and redline it at 5 degrees, put my bush hog purchase on hold, spread the tractor tires to their widest position, quit lifting logs with the FEL etc.

As gruesome as they are, I believe reading these accounts can increase your safety by raising one's awareness. I think everyone here will recognize a situation where they have been within a second or two of being. Total Body Fragmentation by Wood Chipper?... Geez, what a way to go. Pulled into a round baler causing the belts to slip and catching the whole thing on fire..dang. These are a few of the sensational ones. I quit reading the hundreds and hundreds of tractor rollovers, shaft entanglements, falling equipment and rotary mower events.

I think I am going to go inspect my PTO shaft guards right now..in the cold, at night with a flashlight. I am that perturbed.

Be safe guys.

Greg

 

[beenthere]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

What attachment do you have that you use your PTO to operate, where the shields protect you from the rotating shaft?

I can only think of one, that being the post hole digger where someone may be helping steer it into the hole. Any others?

Not considering the farm type operations where one is running a grinder, and walking around it while loading it with corn or something to be ground.

Our old John Deere (and other tractors with cranks) had to be started standing on the ground and pulling the flywheel over to start the things.

Just curious. And hope you get to enjoy your tractoring.

 

[BB_TX]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

Several years ago when I bought my first tractor, I made a serious mistake that put me very much in danger. Stupid mistake brought on by inexperience. I was mowing the ditch along the front of my property. There is a creek that enters from under the highway thru a trio of large square culverts. As I was mowing along the edge of this area, my left front wheel suddenly dropped nearly a foot. I was already leaning quite a bit toward the creek and suddenly found myself teetering on the edge of rolling over. No ROPS. About a 10' drop into the creek. I admit I was very scared. Not sure whether to jump off and leave it or stay. I managed to get it away. I never go along that area in the same manner. I carefully back in to mow that area. I never forget that I could easily have become a statistic. It wasn't until reading posts like this that I became fully aware of how many people are killed or seriously injured in a similar manner. Thankfully I learned without being hurt in the process. It never hurts to be reminded periodically of how many things can go wrong.

 

[Egon]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

And the thumb was never over the crank.

Egon

 

[Gfranklin]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

The only thing I have now is a 5' rototiller. It has the two piece plastic sleeves that have a short chain for each one that you are supposed to use to keep these from rotating. One chain and it's plastic anchor point is broken. Is it OK if one or both protective sleeves rotate during operation? I also have a 7' sickle bar mower for the B that I occasionally hook up and run for enjoyment. No guards on that long guy.

Back home my family has or had several pieces of equipment. Standard procedure was to assist the sloppy post hole digger in keeping it plumb. I must have pushed on it a thousand times growing up, loose clothing, gloves and all. The baler and the mower conditioner and the cement mixer and the bushhogs and the tiller. I don't remember any shields.

I figure I've used up most of my free passes and with my new heightened awareness I am trying to be real cautious.

Once I was doing bucket work moving dirt between two trees. A 20' log laying on the ground had one end up against and protruding slightly past the tree. I caught this with the edge of my bucket and the other 19' of log rotates with frightening speed and smacks the side of the tractor. Mu buddy was standing 17' off to the side and did a very timely catlike jumprope maneuver. Could have been two broke legs.

I've had the loader in the air and had the tractor tilt on diagonal wheels until it hits the front axle limit.

I once jack knifed the 4000 Ford with a wagon load of hay. Came down a slightly wet grassy grade and went sliding.

Some things I've done were flat out stupid in retrospect. Others I never even imagined. I have gotten by so far on divine intervention, now it's my turn to actively anticipate accidents and modify some of my behaviour. It probably sounds like I am an accident waiting to happen and maybe even a reckless sort of guy. I don't think so but I do see where my prior ignorance spread out over 30 years has added up. Most of my deep secrets are out now.

I still enjoy my seat time but my daydreaming has been tempered by contemplating what I could I be doing do make things all around safer.

Greg

 

[Gfranklin]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

Oh yeah, that too. In overhauling my B I had the pistons out and was checking the crank rotation. Ran my fingertip between the flywheel and the starter. OUCH!

Greg

 

[rdbrumfield]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

Yes, thunb on the same side as the fingers and also on the non power steering tractors. Been a few thunbs torn out of their sockets.
On the front crank thing, I watched my dad give a pull on an old fordson steel wheel, and it caught on the first pull, damned near ran over him. Forgot to check the gear box.

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

<font color=blue>And the thumb was never over the crank.</font color=blue>

And ALWAYS pull the crank from the bottom up NEVER from the top down.

 

[diggerjim]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

I remember a church member "several" years ago that had only one arm. He had caught it in an old Allis pull type combines belts. He couldn't get it out, he braced himself against the side of the combine, feeding in a little flesh only when the bone got to hot to bear. Someone passed by or checked on him and got him out./w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif It happened before I did.

Living in the midwest farm country I personally know too many that have lost limbs and lives. Just a few years ago a farmer in the area was pulling a planter down he highway. Everything was flagged and he had his SMV sign out. While going through a double curve the pin connecting the planter came loose causing the planter to jackknife overturning the tractor. No ROPS. It cost him his life.

Safety should be routine, not just thought about. I don't have ROPS on my tractor or backoe yet but it is planned.

Jim

 

[skent]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

I did that once, on a Case SC. That thing NEVER started on the first pull. One one time it was in reverse it did. It ran into the hog pen wall and stalled. lucky it wasn,t in 1st.

 

[Trev]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

I would say that the most dangerous situation I face is plowing snow when you can tell where the 4-5 foot deep ditch is. I usually just push to the end of the driveway and leave large heaps of snow, then go out into the road and push these heaps at an angle into the ditch. But on occassion I have cut myself a relief path where the big DOT snowplows can unload before hitting our driveway and plowing us in. This means plowing out a long area before our driveway, right beside the road. This is where the danger comes in. You can't tell where the ditch is, and it would be easy to slip into it. You can bet the ROPS and seatbelt are always in use during these operations!

I always start my JD4300 standing beside it.. but I do make sure my feet aren't in the way of the wheels in case something goes wrong. Probably dumb and lazy.

 

[Gfranklin]

Re: Now I\'m downright paranoid.

With neutral interlock switches and treating them like they might fail, I would expect the odds swing back in our favor.

You have another example of the value of this board and others like it. We don't get hardly any snow here and if we did maybe I would intuitively realize the hazard you pointed out but I certainly never thought of it before now.

Greg