Stay Safe This Spring: 6 Critical Tractor Safety Tips You Need to Know
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- Welcome to our comprehensive tractor safety refresher course! As the Spring season approaches and agricultural activities ramp up, it's crucial to revisit the potential dangers associated with operating tractors and implements. In this video, we'll delve into six common scenarios where tractor-related injuries occur, offering expert insights and practical tips to ensure your safety and the safety of those around you.
Hauling Passengers: One seemingly harmless activity with significant risks is allowing passengers on a tractor. Despite the temptation to accommodate someone riding on the fender, this practice has led to numerous accidents where riders fell off and were tragically run over by the tractor's rear wheels. We'll discuss safe passenger protocols, the importance of cab tractors with buddy seats, and the imperative need for caution when operating around others.
Thrown Objects from Rotary Cutters: The dangers posed by rotary cutters, particularly regarding thrown objects, cannot be overstated. With blade tip speeds reaching up to 16,000 feet per minute, even small rocks can become lethal projectiles. Drawing from personal experiences, we'll highlight the unexpected nature of such incidents and offer strategies for minimizing risks, including proper mowing techniques and awareness of surrounding areas.
Tractor Rollover: Tractor rollovers represent one of the gravest dangers in agricultural settings, often resulting from working on uneven terrain or hillsides. We'll explore preventative measures such as proper ballast distribution, tire maintenance, and the crucial role of Roll-Over Protective Structures (ROPS) and seat belts in mitigating injury severity.
Obstacles and Roll Bar Clearance: Driving under obstacles like limbs or guy wires can quickly escalate into hazardous situations if the tractor's roll bar doesn't clear. Drawing from real-life anecdotes, we'll underscore the importance of assessing clearance heights and implementing cautious driving practices to prevent accidents that could lead to severe injuries or fatalities.
Trailer and Hauling Tractor Risks: Transporting tractors on trailers introduces its own set of safety challenges, particularly concerning weight distribution and trailer stability. We'll discuss the critical role of chock blocks, proper tongue weight, and proactive measures to avoid trailer sway, emphasizing the potential dangers posed to both operators and other motorists on the road.
PTO Entanglement: PTO-powered attachments present a significant risk of entanglement, with numerous lives lost due to contact with moving parts. Through cautionary tales and preventative strategies, we'll underscore the importance of shutting off the engine before dismounting and maintaining awareness of clothing and body parts near operating PTOs.
By heeding these essential safety tips and avoiding potentially hazardous situations, you'll not only protect yourself but also your loved ones and colleagues. Join us as we prioritize safety in tractor operations and strive to prevent avoidable accidents during the upcoming Spring season. Don't miss out on these critical insights - your well-being is our top priority!
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I'm 63, and grew up on farms. My dad, uncles and grandpas were all farmers. In 1972 my uncle was riding on the fender with his hand operating the tractor. Something happened to lurch the tractor a little, and my uncle came off the fender. The hand was looking the other way, and didn't realize it. When he looked back he was already over my uncle. The tractor was a large 150 horse with dual wheels. Thankfully, my uncle went between the two tires, which minimized the weight on him. He was still critically injured, and spent several months n the hospital, but survived. Also in the 70s, a neighbor was making a batch of hog feed in the feed mill. He reached over the PTO to get something out of the toolbox, and the tail of his shirt caught the PTO shaft. It pulled him into the shaft, and severely injured him in the chest and abdomen. Again, thankfully, he survived. Another uncle was killed in 1973 when he came off a tractor and was run over by the tractor and disc. We don't know exactly what happened, as he was alone, and was dead when we found him. The tractor had gone through the field, butted up against a tree, and spun down. I could list a number of lesser injuries and near misses of friends and neighbors that happened through the years. My dad was stickler for safety, and drilled it into me when I was using machinery, and I drilled it into my kids.
Yup! Some jobs are dangerous. I owned a logging business for 30 years. I have lots of stories too. That’s why I tried like hell to convince my 2 sons they should be accountants. Didn’t work. They wouldn’t do a boring career. Fortunately… neither if them have bad memories … yet.
How many times have you seen people riding in the bucket. On a tractor
I bought my first tractor in 2020. I was watching your videos long before I bought it. Every time you have a tractor safety video, I watch it. Heck, every time you have a video, I watch it👍👍👍
Thank you for sticking with me!
Great advice as always. Regarding tip #1, a few years ago I commented on another popular TH-cam channel where the guy was running around on a sub-compact tractor with people standing on the rear (box blade if I remember right). I pointed out that it was a dangerous practice to be showing on a channel that many people watch. He got mad about it and made some kind of sarcastic reply to me. Needless to say I am not a subscriber to his channel and refuse to watch any more of his videos. Even a small sub-compact tractor can be dangerous.
That guy sounds like an idiot. No room in the tractor world for carelessness.
Good stuff, fortunately my Massie Ferguson 1723e has a few PTO safeties, it's impossible to run the PTO if you are not seated, makes running a PTO generator kinda tuff, I have to put weight in the seat. you ain't kidding about what a brush hog can do, twice I have hit T post's lay out in the pasture one was just a 1 foot long section and some how the blade hit it, knock a big old dent in the mower body and took a chuck out of the blade the size of your thumb. I don't allow ANYBODY around when I brush hog period.
Some PTO attachments are not designed to have a driver in the seat. Like my Wollenstein PTO chipper. I’ll leave my tractor and chipper in one place a long time while I haul limbs over to it to get chipped up. I also have a PTO water pump. I’d hate it if it took 2 people just to set a pump and sprinklers. Do you have an override for that feature?
@@enigmawyoming5201 yes, a tractor tool box full of tools held by the seat belt. I don't want to fiddle with the safety seat switch as about the time I do that I will forget and then bad things happen.
I remember sitting on the tractor fender all the time when I was a kid. I never did get hurt, but looking back, it wasn't a good idea at all. Things were different back in the 70s, though.
Good video. Another mistake many tractor owners make is pulling on a basically immovable object like a stump trying to pull it out. The tractor does a wheely and rolls backward onto the operator. Unfortunately, I knew a guy who did just that and is now no longer with us.
It's pretty safe to pull from the drawbar (as long as you aren't hooked too close). Where people get in trouble is hooking to the 3-point hitch arms or a drawbar attached to the 3-point hitch arms or the top link bracket.
I new a guy that crushed his chest pulling 3" tree
I was a new tractor owner in 2016 and had never operated a tractor before. It's amazing that I didn't kill myself on it. For people who have never operated a tractor, you don't know what you don't know. Tractor dealers should, in my opinion, require themselves to give a safety course to new owners without tractor operating experience. I have eventually learned through good videos such as this and some underwear sucking experiences but I very easily could have been injured or killed.
Mike, thanks for the reminders. Ive operated tractcrs for more than 60 years but I violated one of those recommendations several years ago. We had moved to N GA and had down sized considerably I had sold my small farm and we purchased a very small homestead but found I still needed a small tractor. I found an old Kubota subcompact and went to pick it up in TN. I was loading on a hill and as I drove on the trailer it picked up the back of the truck. Lucky for me the tractor was hydrostactic drive and I quickly backed back off the trailer. There was no level ground around to load on so I had my wife get in the truck and hold the brakes and got it loaded that way. Good stuff thanks for the reminders.
Thanks Mike. We used to have those saftey meetings every where I drove a truck. You could always come away with something that you might be lax on. Great video!
Mike, I always enjoy your videos. In regard to loading a tractor on a trailer, I always have four 1 foot long pieces of 4 X4 wood. I lay 2:of the 4 X 4 pieces length ways on the ground perpendicular to the length of the trailer one on top of the other under the back of each side of the trailer. This prevents the trailer and tractor weight from lifting the back of my pickup. Now my trailer is a 20 foot featherlite car hauler, so it’s not very high off the ground, a taller trailer might not be as safe with my procedure. Keep up the great work.
Steve
Very good reminders!
I also would suggest.. if your bush hogging in a open cab tractor wear a forestry helmet or one of those stihl chainsaw helmets. Our lease farmers lost their son bushhogging. He got a small peice of fencing metal lodged in his skull. He was found hours later .
Sad story to hear..that really sucks. Another tip when bush hogging is have the front of the mower around 2 inches lower than the rear so material goes out the back and not toward the operator.
Thanks Mike!!Always good to remember all those tractor safety tips. In addition and from my experience being in a big hurry and being lazy can hurt you on a tractor as well!
Thanks for the refresher.. 🇺🇸
I live on a steep hill that I have figured out how to mow. I stay always aware of becoming complacent about that hill. It could be very dangerous. Also the low limbs are a possible danger so I bought a great new pole saw to do some good trimming.
Whew! Thank goodness you didn’t mention what I’m planning to do this Saturday. My buddy will run my tractor, and I’m going to be in the loader bucket using my chainsaw cutting limbs off of our trees. I feel better about doing that now since you didn’t mention it. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure my buddy will be wearing his seatbelt!
Seriously.. great advice!!. I never thought about the loading the tractor and raising the back tires off the ground. Probably because I have a 24’ gooseneck trailer that weighs more than my little JD 3038e tractor does. But I know people who really need to realize this hazard.
Good reminders Mike ,great imfo.
I had bought a new zero turn mower in Florida and mowed quite a bit and when I drove under a large oak tree the branch was down farther than I thought and I hit the branch and the mower came off the ground and backwards i went. Got off and lowered the rops. I loaded up my tractor to go to Missouri, never had it on there before. I had the bucket sitting on the fork attachment and strapped to the tractor. Next morning we took off and went about a mile when I noticed the tractor needed to move closer to the hitch. In the back i used a clevis but what i did wrong there was putting the pin in from the bottom instead of the top and it was coming loose by the time we hit Lebanon. As we drove to our new house in long lane the tractor had slid back a little and i had a harder time getting the chains loose.
Thanks for the video. I am a new tractor owner at 71 years young. I have worked around moving equipment my whole life and most of these safeties are the same. Never work on moving equipment. Thanks for the reminder that this can happen on tractors.
Great advice Mike. I 63 years old and have been around tractors my whole life and you can never be to safe. Again thanks for the reminder about safety.
Can definitely relate to some of those tips! Excellent reminders as everyone is rushing to get going with spring cleanup and other projects under way!
Thank you. This is always a good thing to review.
Mike, great refresher. We need to be reminded from time to time about safety. It’s so easy to get complacent when operating a tractor on a regular basis. This video makes me think about safety and that’s great. Thanks
Thanks Mike for the reminders…some of those made me cringe. “Keep on Keeping on!” Tim in northern TN
Thanks for the tips Mike! I’m expecting delivery of my first tractor, a Kubota L4060LE. So great timing for me!
My wife lost a cousin many years ago because of a tractor accident. He was riding on the fender of a tractor pulling a tillage tool. The tractor hit a bump, he fell off and was run over by the tool.
Wow great refresher.
Awesome tip! If you have to push down. Thanks
It's always good to go over safety tips Mike. Thanks for sharing
Well this explains a lot you being ran over buy a trailer thanks for sharing your story and sharing great safety tips
Thank you for the video.
Cannot get enough safety reminders. Thank you, Mike!
great advise ty
Fantastic Advice! Thanks for another great video!
Good advice ,thanks Mike
pc
Great tips and reminders for a new and old tractor owner.
Great video Mike. Thanks for all you do for the tractor community.
Great video.!
I remember from my childhood in Tx 60 yrs ago, PTO, cotton stripper.
No the poor guy did not fare well. RIP
My dad was Fire Chief for a rural community from the late 80s to early 2000s. They worked several severe and a few fatal tractor accidents. Mostly old timers leaving PTOs engaged and getting off to open gates or clear debris. One was run over by a turning bush hog. It took four people over an hour to put the pieces in 5 gallon buckets. Another fatal one was a guy hooking a chain to a draw bar under the axle and turning the tractor ontop of himself trying to pull out a stump. Crushed his head like one of Gallagher's watermelons.
Nice to be safety reminded. 😊
A friend of mine, lost a leg to a PTO.
Thanks, Mike, for the safety refresher. I have a question related to the "no passengers" issue. What is the best way to teach a 14-year-old how to drive my non-cab tractor? After giving him lots of stationary-tractor instruction, I had planned to ride as a "passenger" for my grandson's first few drives, as my running along beside a moving tractor is probably not very smart, either. Comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
You left out "If you have 4x4, use it" The front wheels have no brakes, but if its in 4x4, then some of the rear wheel braking force will be transferred through the driveline. The extra traction may stop you getting into trouble in the 1st place, particularly if using a loader.
Very interesting tips and personalization's about them. I do have a question. When you have a winch for logging or a brush chipper both implements that are manually operated from the ground how is you advice to operate around engaged PTO applied? Or what is your advise for operating those types of implements etc.?
I’m curious.. if engaging 4wd would help with the truck moving when loading a tractor onto a trailer? I’m thinking maybe the front wheels, where the engine weight is.. standard transmission in gear, would be a nice secondary brake…?? Hoping somebody would help me understand that scenario.
I don't think so. When this happens, you're on the ramps, so the tractor tires are off the ground. Most people freeze when things start moving, which is what I'd do. If you continue driving or back up, the truck comes back down and could allow everything to stop. Best, though, is not to get in that predicament in the first place.
@@TractorMike But if the rear tires of the truck come up off the ground, more weight is on the front tires of the truck. My question is, simplified, if your truck has standard transmission, left in reverse (or Granny gear forward if the apparent movement might be reverse), with 4wd engaged, would the front tires resist movement? Of course it is better to avoid this situation… I’m only asking if this is an option to have some redundancy of safety, particularly when one might believe this could be an issue. I feel this piece of information might be useful when one has a tractor that can’t start… it is on a hill.. being winched up onto a trailer.
Loading onto a trailer hooked up to a truck with standard transmission vs. automatic transmission… any difference?
loved this segment. I was almost killed by a piece of an pipe buried in the fence line and cut off and shot right at me by a brush hog.. It dented the roll cage of my UTV ,I was in, just above my head. 2 inches lower and I am dead.
I also, just TODAY, hooked my ROPS in a tree limb on a small cherry tree. The tractor did a wheelie, in turtle mode, and scared me to death. Once clear we settled down but I had no idea what was happening and fortunately stopped moving and shut down. Controls on a zero turn lead you to push in this event making it worse. I pulled back in time to avoid flipping over. Unseatbelted.
I just bought my first tractor after watching your videos for a couple years. Thanks for these safety tips, and thanks for all the advice you post so often. Thumbs up.
Excellent tip. Thanks for the reminders