This publication will address ways to avoid injuries from equipment used during harvest. The equipment must be powerful to effectively handle large amounts of agricultural commodities. Operators may be less familiar with seasonal equipment used only a few days each year. Operators may not be accustomed to situations that pose possible dangers or risk. For these reasons, it is important to be familiar with harvest equipment and be able to anticipate and avoid potentially hazardous situations.
Operators often overestimate their ability to react in situations involving the intake area.
For example, a baler traveling at the speed of 3 miles per hour pulls in crops at a rate of about 4.4 feet per second. Snapping rolls on a cornhead pull in stalks at a rate of about 12 feet per second. Both machines move faster than an operator can react in common situations. If an operator tries to unplug a stalk in a live cornhead, the snapping rolls can pull the rest of the stalk, and the operator's arm and hand, into the machine. This can happen in about the same time it would take for th operator to release the freed stalk.