# Presentation: 071725

## Facts about Kentucky Farm TractorOverturn Deaths and Their PreventionA series of posters for public display

*A Public Service Project for *
*Kentucky’s Farm  Communities*
*January 2000*

## Slide 2

## During 1994-99, 76 Kentucky farmers died in tractor overturns.

**During 1994-99, 76 Kentucky farmers died in tractor overturns.**
**Another 32 died when they fell off moving tractors.**

## Tractor overturns	76
Thrown from tractor and run over	25
Thrown from tractor but not run over	7
Highway motor vehicle & tractor collisions**	2
Total deaths	110
Potential lives saved by ROPS &  seat belts 	108

*Thrown from tractor and run over**	**25*
*Thrown from tractor but *_*not*_* run over**	**7*
*Highway motor vehicle & tractor collisions****	**2*
*Total deaths**	**110*
*Potential lives saved by ROPS** &  **seat belts **	****108***

*ROPS and seat belts can save many lives! ****

- *	KY Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) data 1994-99.
- **	Two of these collisions involved large trucks traveling at high speed. A	 ROPS and seat belt would probably not have prevented the death of the tractor operator.

## Project goals

*To increase the number of ROPS and seat belts on farm tractors*
*To encourage retirement of older tractors without ROPS or restrict them to jobs with less chance of overturns*
*To promote other safe tractor practices (e.g., no extra riders, use of slow moving vehicle [SMV] signs, etc.)*

## What’s a ROPS?

*ROPS - *_*R*_*oll*_*O*_*ver*
_*P*_*rotective *_*S*_*tructure*

*During an overturn *
*a ROPS and seat belt*
*hold the operator in*
*a “frame of safety.”*

## Demonstrating how a ROPS works

## How a ROPS and seat belt work

*How a ROPS and seat belt work*

- During an overturn the operator stays
- within the ROPS “frame of safety.”

- A fastened seat belt holds the
- operator on the tractor seat.

## Living dangerously (no ROPS, no seat belt)

## An overturn without a ROPS

## Overturns without ROPS are deadly

- Without a ROPS and seat belt
- the operator is unprotected
- during an overturn.

- During a recent six-year period, 76 Kentucky
- farmers died when their tractors overturned. ROPS and seat belts could have saved all 76.

## Partially protected (ROPS but no seat belt)

## Why fasten the seat belt?

- overturned
- model tractor

## Effectiveness of ROPS & seat belts

- In this case, the ROPS saved his life. A
- buckled seat belt would have saved his legs,
- huge medical bills, and a permanent disability.

- A ROPS alone greatly reduces the risk of being
- killed during an overturn compared to a tractor
- without a ROPS. Add a fastened seat belt and the operator is usually **not** injured in an overturn.

- ROPS

- Together ROPS and fastened seat belts are 98% effective in preventing injury and death during tractor overturns.

## Kentucky farmers at risk-1994

*In 1994, the KY fatality rate in Ag/Forestry/Fishing was ****3.1 times**** the national rate.*
*In KY, nearly all of these deaths were farming related.*

## Kentucky farmers at risk-1995

*In 1995, the KY fatality rate in Ag/Forestry/Fishing was ****3.5 times**** the national rate.*
*In KY, nearly all of these deaths were farming related.*

## Kentucky farmers at risk-1996

*In 1996, the KY fatality rate in Ag/Forestry/Fishing was ****2.8 times**** the national rate.*
*In KY, nearly all of these deaths were farming related.*

## Tractor-related farm deaths

- Average for US
- Farming States

- National Safety Council
- 1998 data for the US

- Kentucky 1994-98

- UK Kentucky Fatality Assessment
- and Control Evaluation data

## Kentucky’s annual farm injuries

- 22%

*More than 1,100 involve farm tractors*

*Kentucky has more than 5,000 farm injuries per year.*

## Age and ROPS status of KY tractors

**% ****Tractors**

**Year Tractor Was Manufactured**

*Based upon examination of 282 tractors from a random sample of 149 farms with principal operators age 55 years or older*

*Taken as a whole, the bars represent all of Kentucky’s working farm tractors. Each bar is the percent of tractors manufactured in a given five-year period.*
*The dark portions of the four bars represent the 29% of tractors equipped with ROPS. When these tractors overturn, the driver is seldom  injured.*
*The light gray portions of all the bars represent the 71% of tractors without ROPS. When these tractors overturn the driver is often seriously injured or killed. *

## Lifetime chance of an overturn

*1 in 9 Kentucky farmers age 55 or older have overturned a tractor and lived*
*1/3 of these survivors have had two or more overturns*
*Many of these persons were injured*
*some received minor injuries*
*some received severe injuries*
*some were permanently disabled*
*If you don’t have a ROPS  on your tractor you are at risk of injury or death*

## Percent of Kentucky farms withROPS equipped tractors

## Are ROPS cost effective?

*A study at UK found medical costs from a severe overturn injury can be $140,000 +*
*Tractor overturn fatalities and serious injuries often result in loss of the farm*
*A ROPS is a one-time cost < $1,000*

- Relative costs of a ROPS
- vs. a serious rollover injury

- Dollars

##  If this happened to your son ...

- Wouldn’t you want him on  a
- a ROPS-equipped tractor?
- Wouldn’t you hope he  was
- wearing the seat belt?
- If you or someone in your family
- rolls a tractor without a ROPS
- it can turn your life upside down.
- Set a good example! Protect
- your loved ones and yourself.
- Get a ROPS and buckle up!