Agricultural Workplaces Have Highest Rate Of Death
The JereBeasley Report contained an article, Tractor Manufacturers Must Install Needed Safety Devices, that our office felt we should share. Tractors lead to several injuries and death every year in the workplace, making this an important issue to our office.
Due to the fact that tractor accidents are responsible for 130 deaths each year, it seems realistic to learn that agricultural workplaces have the highest rate of death when it comes to workplace injuries. The sad part about this is the fact that a great amount of the deaths that occur because of tractors in an agricultural workplace are preventable.
Most deaths that involve tractors occur when the operator of the tractor falls off the machine or is thrown from it after the tractor tips up or even completely overturns. If the tractors had safety devices installed on them, such as seat belts, rollbars, deadman switches and rotary mower guards, many accidents could be prevented.
Although it has been clear that the lack of safety equipment installed in the tractors has caused so many injuries and accidents, the manufacturers still have not incorporated these safety measures into the design of their tractors.
Seat Belts on Tractors
It wasn’t until 1985 that seat belts were installed as a piece of standard equipment on tractors. It has now been nearly 30 years since this piece of equipment became standard on tractors, yet the manufacturers of the tractors do not promote the use of the seat belts.
If you see advertisements for these machines, it is unlikely to see the operator featured in the advertisement wearing their seat belt. In reality, the operators of the tractors choose not to use the seat belt in order to reduce the restriction they experience while operating the tractor.
Rollbars on Tractors
Rollbars are a necessary component of all tractors. The law office of Beasley Allen tried a case in the early 1980s that received a lot of attention when it came to rollbars.
The case was against Kubota Tractor Company and the law firm was able to prove the importance of rollbars and the company changed its safety policy after, adding rollbars to the tractors.
Safety Equipment
Since tractor operators still do not wear their seat belts as much as they should, and they simply cannot protect the occupant from injury alone, it is very important for the manufacturers of these machines to include other pieces of safety devices into the design. These additional safety measures include rollbars, deadman switches, and rotary mower guards. All of these can help to prevent injury on tractors and reduce the number of deaths due to tractor accidents.
Tractor Injury Accident
If the proper steps are not taken to include the necessary safety equipment into the manufacturing of tractors, the number of injuries and deaths will remain the same.
Our office asks anyone who has questions about workplace injuries or death, such as those accidents on tractors, to contact an attorney to learn more about their options.
Our attorneys can be reached at 800.637.8170 and they are available to speak with you over the phone, explain the situation and the legal options available.
