THE HUMAN FACTOR
Safe completion of any task depends on knowledge, alertness and hazard awareness.
- Fatigue, drowsiness and illness can lead to mishaps in the field. Recognize when you have had enough and turn the operation over to someone else.
- Adverse weather adds to harvesting pressure. Do not rely on stimulants to keep you going or depressants to calm your nerves.
- Equipment operators should be dressed for comfort and safety. Protective footwear and close-fitting clothes are essentials when working in and around machinery. Wear appropriate safety gear if noise, dust or toxic materials pose hazards.
- Do not allow children around machinery. Far too many tragedies occur when youngsters end up in the path of equipment and operators have a restricted view.
ENTANGLEMENT HAZARD
- To avoid entanglements, always disengage power and turn off the engine before trying to manually clear a plugged machine.
- Never try to pull or remove twine or wire from a bale case or knotter when the baler is in operation.
- Likewise, never try to feed twine by hand. Even if the engine is on idle, twine moves through a baler faster than the operator can react.
- Always keep protective shields in place. Beware of slips or falls that could place anyone near the machine intake area.
HAZARDS OF FALLING
To reduce fall hazards, remember to:
- Always keep all platforms free of tools or other objects. Frequently clean the steps and other areas where workers stand to service, mount and dismount, or operate the machine.
- Wear well-fitting, comfortable shoes with non-slip soles. Use grab bars when mounting or dismounting machinery.
- Be sure your position is stable before you perform maintenance.
- Recognize that fatigue, stress, drugs or alcohol, and age may affect stability. Harvest season comes with many stresses.
- Exposure to dangerous situations can increase the mental pressure and your risk of injury. Follow safe practices around harvest equipment to make the most of your work time during this important season.
TRANSPORTATION
- It is recommended that the extremities—the widest part of balers, mowers and forage choppers—have reflectors or reflective tape on them. This will assist the driving public in recognizing the width of the towed equipment.
- Always return the equipment to the roadway position before traveling on public roads. This position makes the equipment as narrow as possible: an advantage when pulling to the side to allow traffic to pass. Make sure a slow moving vehicle emblem is on the last piece of equipment being towed.
MOWING/CONDITIONING
Heavy crops, rough terrain, and too high a speed can cause clogging or plugging. The more this occurs, the more the operator is tempted to leave the machine and tractor running.
- Always disengage the PTO and shut off the tractor. Keep sickle bars and rotary knives sharp.
SQUARE BALERS
- Always disengage the PTO and shut off the tractor before working on equipment. The flywheel supplies a uniform momentum for operating parts and will continue to turn even after the PTO is disengaged.
- Always allow time for it to stop turning before working on the baler.
- Knotter operation can usually be viewed by turning the flywheel manually. Be watchful for co-workers when two or more are working on/adjusting equipment.
- Extra caution is needed when bale throwers are used because of potential energy in the unit.
- The newer large square baler’s pose an even greater risk because of the larger tractors needed for operation and the weight of the bales produced.
- As always, caution is needed when loading bales by hand onto wagons. The experience of the stacker and the person driving the tractor or truck pulling the wagon are important elements for safely loading and hauling wagons from the field.
CORN PICKERS
- The picker’s snapping rolls are the most common culprits for farmer injury because they frequently plug if ground speed is too fast or slow. When plugged, the rollers still travel freely, but stalks bunched around the rolls prevent stalks from entering.
- In hopes of clearing the plug quickly, farmers may be tempted to unplug the rollers without stopping the picker and shutting off the tractor. As the farmer frees the stalk that caused the plug, it rapidly moves into the roller, sometimes taking the farmer’s hand and arm with it.
- Always stop the machine and shut off the tractor before attempting to unplug the picker.
COMBINES
- Like corn pickers, combines have numerous areas where individuals can be injured if they fail to follow safe operating practices. These areas, which must remain open for the crop to enter the machine, must be avoided while the machine is operating.
- Never attempt to dislodge stalks or grain sheaves with your feet or hands while the combine is running.
- Always shut down the combine and turn off the ignition before removing plugged or lodged material.
- Most combine adjustments should be made with the machine shut off to avoid injury to the operator. While there are certain adjustments that must be made while the machine is running, such as adjusting the variable speed cylinder or fan, these procedures are outlined in the owner’s manual and shielding usually provides protection so adjustments can be made without risk to the operator.
- Don’t rely on hydraulic cylinders to hold the header up. Use locks or solid blocks to stabilize the header while working beneath it.
- Properly preparing the combine for transport can reduce the risk of a combine/vehicle accident. This is done by:
- Emptying the grain tank to reduce weight and lower the center of gravity. Move the unloading auger to the transport position.
- When practical, remove the header to reduce width and transport it on a truck or other implement carrier.
- Make sure slow-moving vehicle (SMV) sign, lights and reflectors are in good condition.
- Check that the combine is not wider than any bridges or culverts that must be crossed to reach the field.
GRAIN WAGONS
- Riding on grain wagons or any other tractor-pulled equipment places the rider at risk for an injury. Children are especially at risk for falling off a wagon as the wheel hits a bump or drops into a rut in the farm lane. Grain, as it is being unloaded from a gravity wagon, can quickly trap and suffocate a child or worker.
As the grain flows out the chute it creates a funnel that can drag a person down toward the
opening. The walls of the funnel may collapse and bury the person, resulting in suffocation if assistance
is not immediately available
AUGERS
- Augers can present several safety risks for farmers and workers, including entanglement in the auger shaft, electrocution from touching overhead power lines and being crushed by the auger if it unexpectedly collapses.
Collapse of the auger undercarriage during transport and while in use is another common
cause of injuries.
- Workers should secure the auger to a vehicle rather than move it by hand to avoid an up end accident where the end of the auger becomes top heavy. Get out of the way if the end of the auger begins to upend and lift the base out of the worker’s hands.
- There is little that can be done to stop the auger from upending once the base is lifted above the auger center of gravity. Moving the auger with a tractor will prevent upending accidents and leveling the soil in the bin area will reduce side-to-side rocking.
- Once in position, both ends of the auger should be supported before operation. Crank the auger down far enough so the top of the auger rests on the grain bin and block the wheels in place. Cable or winch failures are another hazard with augers.
- Never attempt to stop a freewheeling crank handle with your hand or foot. Some augers are equipped with a clutch to prevent freewheeling and others can be raised and lowered with the tractor’s hydraulic system. Proper maintenance and storage increases an augers life span and reduces accident risks.
- Frequently inspect and replace any cables or support legs that are worn or damaged. An auger can quickly tangle an operator’s hand or foot unless precautions are taken to prevent entanglement.
Keep all shields in place and warn workers about the dangers of entanglement. Never use your hand or foot to dislodge grain that is plugging an auger. Use a stick or rod to loosen a plug. Tools and other objects should be picked up and put away to prevent someone from tripping and falling into an auger.
