Elizabeth Gist
In October 2003, a fire broke out on Steve Yager’s combine and led to a chain of events that injured firefighter/EMT Mike Buckley of the Rushville Township Volunteer Fire Department. As Yager was combining corn, he noticed a fire had ignited in the piece of farm equipment, and he drove out of the field in hopes of containing the fire to the combine and not igniting the dry corn crop. The fire was fanned by a strong northwesterly wind and spread rapidly in the dry and recently combined field.
Fearing that the fire might spread to the nearby standing corn, fire units responded in force, and nearby farmers also assisted in the efforts to extinguish the burning field. Buckley had been fighting the fire from the brush cart on front of the tanker when the vehicle went into a ditch. Buckley was thrown from the cart, landing under the front of the tanker in the ditch. He sustained injuries to his left leg, back, and abdomen.
In October 2002, James Bever, 38, Connersville, was eastbound on U.S. 52, when his vehicle left the road in an attempt to avoid hitting a fishtailing piece of farm equipment being towed in the westbound lane. The attempt was in vain, however, as Bever’s vehicle was struck by the blades of the machinery which heavily damaged his 2000 Jeep. The force of impact pinned Bever in his vehicle. Paramedics and rescue personnel worked feverishly for some time to remove the young Connersville man from his vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.
Over the years many fall harvest tragedies have been chronicled in the pages of the Rushville Republican. Harvest season brings with it hope for another successful season. It is, however, a busy and dangerous time.
According to Will Shakel, ANR program assistant for the Rush County Cooperative Extension Office, fall harvest is a time for travelers and farmers alike to be aware of the dangers they could face.
“People need to be considerate of the people operating this equipment because they may not be able to maneuver over right away,” Shakel said. “A car is obviously a lot smaller than a combine.”
Shakel said the change in equipment and farming methods leads to the biggest safety concern.
“We don’t use as many wagons anymore, which leads into a safety factor,” Schakel said. “We’re using more and more semis, either in the fields or out along the edge of the fields on the roads, simply because they are so big and heavy that they cannot be taken out into the fields for fear that they will not get them back out. As people throughout the county are traveling in the next few months they need to keep that in the back of their minds.”
Most modern tractors have some form of roll-over protective structure (ROPS) to protect the driver in the event of an overturn. When there are cases of death or serious injury reported when operating a ROPS equipped tractor, it is often the result of the operator being thrown from the tractor in the accident and suffering head injuries or from being crushed under the machine.
In order to benefit from ROPS, the operator must remain inside the protective structure. More people could be saved if tractor operators would wear their seat belt when operating a ROPS equipped tractor.
“Several years ago, a friend of mine in Franklin County was taking a combine down the road, there was a drop-off, and for some reason ... the wheel of the combine dropped off the side of the road and the combine rolled over and he was killed,” Shakel recalled. “Another instance that I know of also happened a long time ago. A farm couple up in the northern part of the state had just gotten a new combine, and they were out in the field giving it a test drive. Their young child was with them, and they got too close to the drainage ditch. One wheel dropped off and it rolled over and the mother and father were killed instantly. The young child, the only survivor, was in the combine for a day or two before anyone found him.”
Long hours and dangerous working conditions are accepted as a normal part of the life of a farmer, but no one should become a statistic for the sake of getting done a day or two sooner.
Here are a few things farmers should keep in mind as we head into the harvest season.
n HARVEST PREPARATION: Before you begin fieldwork, make sure that combines, trucks and other equipment are in top operating condition. Your owner's manual provides the best information for routine maintenance and preparation. Hurry and frustration when a breakdown happens often leads to a serious injury.
n SILO GAS: One of the deadly gases that farmers encounter each year is silo gas, also known as nitrogen dioxide. Silo gas forms within a few hours after filling any silo. This gas is heavier than air, has a yellow-brown hazy color, and it smells a bit like bleach. Stay out of a newly-filled silo and any surrounding areas for two to three weeks after filling. When it is safe to enter, run the blower for at least an hour to assure that gases have been removed and that there's a fresh supply of clean air.
n GRAIN BINS: Grain bins, gravity flow wagons, and trucks are involved in grain suffocations or grain "drownings" each year. Grain that flows out from the bottom through an auger or by gravity is much like quicksand. An adult can be pulled under the grain's surface in a matter of seconds and small children can also be quickly suffocated. Keep children out of bins, wagons and trucks. If you have to enter a bin to check storage conditions, shut off and lock out all unloading equipment. And treat the bin as you would any dangerous, confined space.
n AGE APPROPRIATE TASKS FOR CHILDREN: Each year, about 100 farm children die across the country as a result of work-related injuries. One reason for these tragedies is that parents often overestimate their child's ability to perform dangerous jobs. Before asking your child to perform any task or chore, ask yourself: Is my child physically and mentally prepared to handle the task at hand? Most child development experts suggest waiting until a child is at least age 12 or 13 before you allow them to operate a tractor or perform other potentially hazardous jobs. Even then, kids need adequate training and supervision.
For the rural drivers reading this (high school students included) remember to be cautious on county roads and highways during harvest. A car going 50 mph overtaking a tractor or combine moving at 15 mph closes at a rate of over 50 feet per second. To put this in perspective, someone who takes their eyes off the road for only three seconds (long enough to punch a button on the radio), would close 150 feet (half the length of a football field) on a slow moving farm machine which might be just over the next hill.
Headers on combines can be 20 to 30 feet wide and take up essentially all of a rural roadway. When meeting or overtaking a combine, give the farmer time to see you and to find a place where he/she can safely pull over to make room for you to pass. Never try to pass a combine or other farm implement on the shoulder of the road where you might encounter a washout or a culvert that can cause your vehicle to overturn, and never attempt to pass (in either direction) until the farmer is aware of your presence.
“When we move this large equipment, and we’re talking 12-row corn heads and such, they do take up a lot of room,” Shakel said. “Ninety-some percent of the operators try to be as careful as they can, and try to be as considerate as they can, but people have to realize that you can’t maneuver some of this equipment as quickly as you can a car.”
Elizabeth Gist can be contacted at elizabeth.gist@rushvillerepublican.com or at (765) 932-3111 ext. 109. Add a comment to this story at www.rushvillerepublican.com.
