A3o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 28,1981
BY DEBBIE KOONTZ
LANCASTER
saying which goes, “If you want to
know if someone you meet is a
farmer, whisper If he doesn’t hear
you then he is ”
Though this belief is a bit
questionable and probably would
hold no truth if some sort of poll
were taken, it undoubtedly
originated from the fact that most
farmers suffer a loss of hearing
after working with noisy equip
- ment for a few years
But if you’re a farmer and you
live your life with loss of hearing
being your only handicap, count
yourself lucky.
Accidents on farms are taking on
higher numbers now than ever
before New machinery, more
technical equipment, higher
working ages, the rush to get a job
done, risk-taking, carelessness,
lack of knowledge - these all are
contributing factors to the higher
accident figures
One big mistake made by many
farmers is not to realize that with
age comes a loss in reaction time,
balance, energy, vision and
hearing But these are minor
losses compared to the loss that
could occur if these minor ones are
not recognized Loss of fingers,
arms, legs, bodily control and life
are among the serious accidents
which occur more often today
Before shrugging of these
generalities with a grumble and
declaring that you’ve read this a
hundred times already, consider
some cold, hard facts
-Last year there were 53 farm
related fatalities in Pennsylvania
-Over the course of one year
(1980), there was one accident for
every 6 6 farms in this state
-In the country as a whole,
tractor overturns account for more
deaths on farms than any other
type of accident
-The largest killer in Lancaster
County comes from hauling extra
riders
-According to Dennis Murphy,
Extension Safety Speciahst at the
Penn State University, since 1977 a
total of 56 children (under age 20)
have died from farm accidents in
Lancaster County
Though these may be gruesome
statistics, these are, unfortunately,
reality
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Farm Safety, more than a good idea
Twenty-five percent of the farm
accidents reported in Penn
sylvania occur in the bam This is
not surprising since this state has
so many dairy barns in which
routine chores are performed
every day
The report also stated that most
accidents occur in the fall and the
winter (October, November and
December) It further explained
that this differs from farm ac
cidents in many other states where
most accidents occur in summer
months This difference can be
explained by the fact that Penn
sylvania still has gjarge number of
com pickers in use in the late fall
while farmers in many other states
are using corn shellers which are
more compatible with cash corn
crops
There is a
-Monday was the day found to
have the highest amount of ac
cidents and Sunday the least
-Employees account for nine
perent of farm accidents with the
husband being injured 40 percent
of the time The wife and children
make up the other 51 percent
-Nearly half the accidents occur
when victims are struck by objects
or have a serious fall Other ac
cidents come from breathing
pesticides, inhaling gas, ' over
exertion, contact with fire, etc
-And just when you think you’re
safe by avoiding obvious disasters,
the report says that farm people
are most likely to be involved in an
accident while doing routine
chores
So what can yo do to make these
figu r es and facts come down and to
assure that you’re not a statistic
next year’
Besides the obvious precautions
(be more guarded, quit when tired,
don’t haul extra passengers and
slow down the pace a little) you
can do a few things the Extension
suggests
-Wear protective gear They
suggest a hard hat for the head,
impact-resistant glasses, goggles
or face shield, ear muffs or ear
plugs, gloves and creams for the
hands and safety shoes for feet
Now who wants to go out to bale
hay on a hot July day wearing all
this heavy equipment 9 You’re
certainly not going into battle But
consider this carpenters, welders,
construction men and heavy
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Haylage or Corn Silage
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Replacing my old or
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equipment operators wear these
safety devices Aren’t you doing a
little of each of these jobs’
-The next precaution is,
remember that most accidents
with machinery are the result of
human error. The operator either
forgot something, took a short cut
or risk or ignored safety rules
-Remember to be careful around
pinch points or wrap points on
machinery Pinch points are found
when two rotating objects move
together and at least one moves in
a circle, i e the point at which a
belt runs into a pulley Contact can
be made by just brushing against
unshielded parts or by falling
against them
Entanglement with a wrap point
(any machine which rotates can be
a wrap point) can pull you into the
machine or your clothing can get
so tightly wrapped that you are
crushed or suffocated The
machine certainly won’t give you
time to take off the glove or coat
According to the Extension, the
next area to watch is tractor
overturns, the number one killer
To keep you tractor firmly on the
ground you must control the two
forces responsible for side over
turns One of these is gravity
When setting on level ground a
tractor’s center of gravity is ap
proximately two feet in front of
and ten inches above the rear axle,
in the center of the vehicle With
the center of gravity here, the
tractor is stable However, were
you to change this position by using
certain types of mounted equip
ment or by driving across steep
slopes, the tractor will decrease in
stability and the probability of
overturning it is higher
The next force to remember is
centrifugal force This force
pushes at you and your tractor
from one side as you turn it around
or follow a bend in the roadway
This force is reportedly dangerous
because the pressure it exerts
against a turning tractor
multiplies rapidly as the tractor’s
speed increases Therefore if you
double the tractor’s speed, then the
centrifugal force will be four times
as great As the pressure gets
stronger, short and quicker turns
will change the center of gravity
and will probably, again, result in
a turnover
dJsffiaadja
WHEAT, \
BARLEY, 1
SEED OATS,
AND
SOYBEANS
SEE US AT
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Therefore you should try to keep
a tractor’s center of gravity as
close to the ground as possible
Drive with loaders, snow shovels
and scoops down
-Another point to remember is
that accidents don’t always happen
to the other guy nor do they
necessarily not occur if you’re
careful Your machinery is a piece
of equipment for farm use It
wasn’t made to haul children for
fun or to be used for every chore
you can’t do manually And if you
have doubts, look at how many
seats are on the average tractor
Look how many safety devices are
added for protecting people other
than you the driver
comes a reminder to never,
never overestimate the frien
dliness or slowness of a farm
animal or pet Bulls aren’t friendly
and cows with new-born calves
Spare parts become art
GRAND JUNCTION, lowa -
The art world may not yet
recognize Willie Frank as an up
and-coming sculptor, but the tolks
in Grand Junction, lowa, do
Frank spent a good share ot his
spare time last winter sculpting
The material he chose is somewhat
unfamiliar to most artists, but it s
what Franks knows best farm
machinery parts
Frank, a service foreman at
Rueter & Zenor Implement Co ,
spends most of his tune preparing
tractors and combines for field
work But when he had tree time
ORDER SEED FOR
1981
NOW
aren’t slow
The only suggestion left is to
attend any safety seminars
available in your area Leam how
to handle equipment the safe way
and learn CPR After all, the
saying does go, “the life you save
may be your own.”
The Pennsylvania Agricultural
Safety Council will be holding their
fourth annual meeting at State
College on March 26 Pre
registration is required Write to
PASC, 204 Agricultural
Engineering Building, University
Park, PA, by March 17,1981
This Thursday night the I .an
cestor County Farmers’
Association is sponsoring a safety
night at the Youth for Christ
Church off the Danville Pike This
meeting will provide another
segment in farm safety for the
March 7 issue. Look for it
last wintei, he was welding junk
parti
As hib project began taking
shape, lellow employees con
tributed throw-away parts trom
old discs, plows and tractor
engines The result was the
sculpture ol a larm tractor,
complete with realistic control
knobs
The unique sculpture now stands
in tront ot the Grand Junction MF
dealership A lot of people stop to
look it over, Frank says You
can l help but notice it when you
walk up to the building ”
CALL US
FOR
SEED
FOR 1982
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PRICES
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SOON