Bio-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 1,1989 Farm Accidents Bl No one likes to think about acci dents and dying. Yet many acci dents happen because children do things that they did not know could hurt them. About 300 kids are killed each year in farm accidents and at least 5,000 more are injured seriously. Many are permently disabled. The following stories are not meant to scare you but to teach you dangers so that you will not get hurt or killed. Much of the information is Tractor Accidents Although manufacturers are designing safety features into trac tors. the accident frequency con tinues to rise. Of all fatal machin ery accidents, 70 percent involve tractors and of these more than half are overturn accidents. A great majority of these accidents could be prevented—consider the fol lowing cases and the preventative suggestions. Case Study No.l A young teenage boy was attempting to pull an anchor post out with a 40 H.P. tractor when the tractor overturned and pinned him underneath. The boy was pro nounced dead at the scene. 1. Always hook a chain or cable to the lowest point of the tractor— never on the axle or top link of the three point hitch. 2. Rollover protection, either a roll bar or crush-proof cab should be on every tractor. 3. Never chain the wheel to a log, tree or fence rail for traction, get help. 4. Only allow experienced oper ators on your tractors as they are powerful and lethal—not a toy. 5. Horseplay with tractors and .showboating is gambling with lousy odds. Ten Seconds To Darkness by Paul Howes I’m usually real careful around anhydrous. I always wear my gog gles. But this time I was in a hurry. Dad’s tractor had just broken down, and the suppliers’ truck was ' pulling in with a replacement tank. I can still see my goggles laying on the fender of the tractor as I picked up the transfer hose to flip it over the tank. The moment the valve on the end of the hose hit the Readers Write My name is Dawn Louise Zim merman. I have three sisters and two brothers. Jay had a birthday this week. He is 9; Dawn, 8; Malin da, 6; Dennis, 3; Lori, 20 months; and Lois, 8 months old. One morning we woke up. I went to look if our dog had pups and she did! She had nine pups! One day we were playing school. Our mom came down to the basement and said, “I have s surprise for you.'’ taken from Farm Safety For “Just Kids” and from Successful Farming. Two years ago David Vimig was a typical 13-year-old farm boy who loved helping with the farm work and wasn’t too fond of school. Then, on one October day, his life changed in a few shattering seconds. He was helping his brothers unload a silage wagon on the fami ly farm near Hillman, Minnesota. When he reached for a switch Case Study No. 2 A young farmer was fueling his tractor while it was running as it was spring seeding and he was in a hurry. The fuel caught fire and he was severely burned. He wasn’t even able to do his own harvesting! Cost: Thousands of dollars for a tractor, custom operator costs, wages and reduced yield on crops. 1. Never fuel your tractor when it is hot—always shut tractor off when fueling. 2. Keep a fire extinguisher and first aid kit mounted on your tractor. 3. Service and adjust your equipment before starting the tractor. 4. Never turn the radiator cap completely when the tractor is hot—just turn it to the safety stop until the pressure is relieved. Case Study No. 3 Two teenage boys are using a farm tractor for transportation after working hours on an Indiana farm. Both were killed instantly when the tractor rolled into a ditch. 1. NO RIDERS—the farm trac tor is designed for one person only—the operator. 2. Do not succumb to the whims of your children—keep them off tractors and farm equipment tank, ammonia shot out and hit me right in the face. Fortunately, I was only a few feet from the river and my father dragged me to the shore. The terrible bums on my face and esophagus have healed pretty well by now. But my left eye is heavily scarred. People frequently stare at it or withdraw altogether. My right eye is very sensitive to light and is painful, and some days my vision is only 20/200 with it. “What? What?” “We begged, “What is the surprise?” She said, “Our heifer had a calf!” We quick put our coats on and went to look. Our calf was black. Its mother was not nice to it at first We did not name it yet. We have 50 steers and one heiffer. Goodbye, Dawn Louise Zimmerman Newmanstown ight Young Lives across the PTO shaft, .his shirt caught and he was dragged into the shaft. Today he still is much like other kids—except he wears a pair of mechanical arms with hooks for hands, and a sweatshirt with “Bookman” emblazoned on his back. David, who was hospitalized for three months, can write, use a word processor, drive a retrofitted trac tor and wield a fork and spoon. He doesn’t plan to farm, but hopes to stay in an ag-related field. “I would tell other kids who work around equipment to take it slow, watch what they’re doing and try to keep their mind on the job,” David advises. Since David’s accident, his father, Andrew Jr., has devised a guard for the silage box. He and his wife Marlene are facing a huge medical bill which threatens to claim their farm of 21 years. Safe Kids Are No Accident Two years ago Robert McNutt and his wife, Mary, stopped to see their daughter, Linda, her husband, Jim, and their five children. Linda and the kids were outside with Jim’s father, Russell Hoskins. A neighbor, Marvin Miller, pulled a gravity wagon into the yard and began unloading it into the .bin with auger. Soon afterward three of the children, including Miller’s 8-year-old son, began playing on top of the 300-bushel wagon. McNutt saw Miller’s son yelling, but he couldn’t hear him above the noise of the machinery and didn’t see anything wrong. When Miller emerged from the grain bin, he realized his son was screaming that McNutt’s grand son, David, 10, was under the com. McNutt quickly shut off the grain auger. He and Miller found David’s arm sticking out of the grain and 14-year-old Lisa buried in com up to her chest They couldn’t pull him out or even move the com away from his face. Miller jumped out and opened a gate. McNutt and Lisa began to sink, but she managed to cling to the side of the wagon. Before McNutt became submerged, he cupped his hands in front of his face. Then Linda climbed into the wagon and became partially bur ied. Hoskins, age 77, climbed in to stop her from sinking. But while McNutt was submerged, David’s legs emerged in the gate opening, and Miller pulled him out. He was unconscious and turn ing blue. They removed the com from his mouth and began CPR. In a few moments, the second gate of the wagon opened, the grain began to flow, and McNutt emerged unharmed. By that time, David was on his feet. It was a near tragedy for four people. Absolutely! no extra riders on tractors. Check position of people before starting up machinery Safety Training Two years ago last fall, Keith Algreen, was helping his church group raise funds for a boy who needed a new liver. “If anything ever happens to me, he sure could have my liver,” Keith told his mother, Marilyn Adams. Two days later, the 11-year-old suffocated in a gravity-flow wagon. Thanks to Keith’s organs, four people lead normal lives. We had no idea how dangerous a gravity wagon could be,” Adams points out “Keith was just a little boy. But he was doing an adult job alone.” a « « m > f n,J Falls Short To cope with pain and to prevent similar tragedies, this lowa woman formed a national safety group, called, Farm Safety For “Just Kids.” If you would like to know more about farm safety, contact Farm Safety for “Just Kids,” 716 Main St., P.O. Box 4SB, Earlham, lowa 50072. They will send you a news letter on a regular basis to help you know how to avoid accidents. Include $1 to student member ship, $S for adult and family, and $l5 to group memberships. \Z i €P
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