Engineering Control Technologies to Protect Operators in Agricultural All-Terrain Vehicle Rollovers.

HIGHLIGHTS Rollovers are the leading cause of injury and fatality in farm all-terrain vehicle (ATV) incidents. Engineering technologies to prevent rollovers or protect the operator in ATV crashes were reviewed in this study. The advances in safety for ATVs are correlated with improvements in stability, handling, and crashworthiness. Operator protection devices and crash notification systems can protect the operator in ATV rollover incidents. ABSTRACT. All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are the second most common source of injury, following tractors, in U.S. agriculture. Rollovers are the leading cause of death in farm ATV incidents, constituting about 85% of ATV-related deaths. There is neither a significant practical solution for ATV rollover crashes in the U.S. nor standards and rules for implementing such a solution. Behavior-based control methods have been used for several decades but have reached their limit of success. Hence, engineering controls are needed to significantly decrease the severity of injuries in ATV rollover incidents (as in tractor incidents). In this study, engineering technologies to protect the operator in agricultural ATV crashes were reviewed. The discussion includes improving crash testing and stability ratings, evaluating static stability of ATVs, dynamic handling tests of ATVs, using automatic systems to notify first responders of a crash, and testing and applying operator protection devices. The available standards, rules, and recommendations related to these technologies around the world are also discussed.

Editorial: The Power of Safety Professionals to Effect Change.

In 2006, Cole et al. (2006) reported on tractor overturn-related injuries in Kentucky from a random sample of farmers that numbered 6,063 respondents. The highest number of people who experienced tractor overturns were operators 16 to 20 years old. In 2007, at a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Tractor Safety Initiative meeting in Colorado, John Myers of NIOSH presented a map of the states with the highest overturn fatality rates: Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Significantly, four of these states, including Kentucky, overlap the Appalachian region (Cole, 2007; Hard and Myers, 2001). In Kentucky, this region involves farming on slopes, as examined by Saman et al. (2012), who found a high-risk cluster of tractor overturns among ten Kentucky counties in the Appalachian region, with a 97% increased risk of overturn as compared to other Kentucky counties. In 1971, James Arndt of Deere & Company presented a 50-year review of rollover protective structures (ROPS) at a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) conference. Arndt (1971) estimated that, over the previous 50 years, 30,000 operators had been killed when crushed by tractor overturns in agriculture and construction work. Since then, ROPS have been recognized as an effective device to prevent death in the event of a tractor overturn (Reynolds and Groves, 2000). Nevertheless, the epidemic of tractor-related deaths has continued into the modern era, and the cost of ROPS has been found to be a significant barrier to retrofitting tractors that lack ROPS (Myers et al., 1998). To provide a low-cost alternative, NIOSH safety engineers have designed, tested, and provided instructions for building and fitting cost-effective ROPS (CROPS) onto pre-ROPS tractors (i.e., tractors built before 1968) (Hard et al., 2016).

Australian Leadership: Saving Lives with Crush Prevention Devices.

The burden of injury and death due to quad bike [all-terrain vehicle, or ATV] use cannot be allowed to continue unchecked, and ongoing delay in action may permit to further avoidable tragedies." -Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (2016, p. 13).

Rural Kentucky High School Students' Exposure to All-Terrain Vehicle Riding and Injuries.

From 1982 to 2007, Kentucky had 459 deaths related to all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), fifth highest among US states. By 2012, Kentucky ranked fourth highest, with 578 ATV-related deaths. Following the sentinel event of an ATV-related traumatic brain injury to an unhelmeted high school student, the authors developed a 19-item survey that collected data regarding rural Kentucky high school students' years of ATV driving, second-rider frequency, typical duration of riding events, estimated weekly number of riding events, and frequency of helmet use. Of the 159 students involved, males scored significantly higher on each of these items, except frequency of any ATV driving and frequency of helmet use, which showed no gender differences. Overall, 9.3% of students reported always wearing a helmet when driving and/or riding; 61.2% reported never wearing a helmet; 132 (83.0%) reported that they either drove ATVs or rode as a second rider, and 72 of these (57.1%) reported having had an ATV incident, 33 (45.8%) of which resulted in an injury. Twenty-one of these were serious injuries, including concussions; unconsciousness; fractures to skull, nose, collarbones, arms, ribs, and legs; elbow and hip dislocations; lacerations to head, eyes, arms, legs, and back; and multiple contusions and sprains. Findings have implications for the design of responsibility to protect (R2P) interventions that will reduce exposure and prevent ATV injury and fatality. A method that leverages the relevance of a sentinel event as a community public-health surveillance opportunity is described. Study surveillance data showed higher exposure to ATV hazards than previously reported.

A spatial cluster analysis of tractor overturns in Kentucky from 1960 to 2002.

BACKGROUND: Agricultural tractor overturns without rollover protective structures are the leading cause of farm fatalities in the United States. To our knowledge, no studies have incorporated the spatial scan statistic in identifying high-risk areas for tractor overturns. The aim of this study was to determine whether tractor overturns cluster in certain parts of Kentucky and identify factors associated with tractor overturns. METHODS: A spatial statistical analysis using Kulldorff's spatial scan statistic was performed to identify county clusters at greatest risk for tractor overturns. A regression analysis was then performed to identify factors associated with tractor overturns. RESULTS: The spatial analysis revealed a cluster of higher than expected tractor overturns in four counties in northern Kentucky (RR = 2.55) and 10 counties in eastern Kentucky (RR = 1.97). Higher rates of tractor overturns were associated with steeper average percent slope of pasture land by county (p = 0.0002) and a greater percent of total tractors with less than 40 horsepower by county (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals that geographic hotspots of tractor overturns exist in Kentucky and identifies factors associated with overturns. This study provides policymakers a guide to targeted county-level interventions (e.g., roll-over protective structures promotion interventions) with the intention of reducing tractor overturns in the highest risk counties in Kentucky.

Risk analysis of tractor overturns on catfish farms.

Fatal and nonfatal injuries occur on catfish farms as a result of tractor overturns, but these injuries can be greatly mitigated when a tractor is equipped with a rollover protective structure (ROPS) and seatbelt. This study analyzed the proportion of tractors on catfish farms in Mississippi not equipped with ROPS and the cost of retrofitting those tractors with a ROPS and seatbelt as compared to the expected benefits gained from adding the protection. To determine if farmers have the financial incentive to retrofit older tractors, a net present value framework was used because the expected benefits occur over a number of years. The ROPS retrofit is a one-time cost that occurs immediately, and thus the present value does not need to be calculated, i.e., time period 0. According to this study adding ROPS will provide a net benefit of $22,877 in the event of an overturn. When dealing with small farms (<125 acres) where an average tractor is used for approximately twice as many hours compared to an average tractor on large farms, the extra hours worked by a single tractor resulted in total benefits of retrofitting ROPS of $9.45 per year, whereas for large farms the net benefit is $4.70 (=125 acres). Given that the least expensive retrofit is $147, it would take 15.5 years of tractor use on the small farms for the expected benefits to outweigh the cost. Given the large range of costs that could occur due to an overturn, there could be a significant premium for not having ROPS protection. In other words, there likely is a smaller range of costs from an overturn with ROPS than without ROPS because ROPS reduces the more serious incidents.

Review of occupational hazards associated with aquaculture.

Aquaculture is an emerging sector that is associated with most of the same hazards that are present in agriculture generally, but many fish farming tasks entail added danger, including working around water and working at night. Comprehensive studies of these hazards have not been conducted, and substantial uncertainty exists as to the extent of these hazards. The question addressed in this investigation was, "What is known about potential hazardous occupational exposures to aquatic plant and animal farmers?" In this review, causes of death included drowning, electrocution, crushing-related injury, hydrogen sulfide poisoning, and fatal head injury. Nonfatal injuries were associated with slips, trips, and falls; machines; strains and sprains; chemicals; and fires. Risk factors included cranes (tip over and power line contact), tractors and sprayer-equipped all-terrain vehicles (overturn), heavy loads (lifting), high-pressure sprayers, slippery surfaces, rotting waste (hydrogen sulfide production), eroding levees (overturn hazard), storm-related rushing water, diving conditions (bends and drowning), nighttime conditions, working alone, lack of training, lack of or failure to use personal flotation devices, and all-terrain vehicle speeding. Other hazards included punctures or cuts from fish teeth or spines, needlesticks, exposure to low temperatures, and bacterial and parasitic infections .

Cost effectiveness of wearing head protection on all-terrain vehicles.

The use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) has increased in the United States and elsewhere over the last three decades, along with an increased frequency of incidents resulting in serious injuries, among which have been head injuries. ATVs are designed for motorized off-highway work and recreation, can weigh up to 600 lbs (272 kg), and may reach speeds as high as 75 mph (120 km/h). ATV crashes, including collisions and overturns, were responsible for 8104 fatalities from 1982 to 2006. One third of those killed were youth under 16 years of age. Helmets may reduce risk of death by 42% and nonfatal injury by 64%. In this study, a decision analysis was applied to determine the potential reduction in the rate of fatal and nonfatal head injuries associated with crashes, based upon the universal wearing of head protection while riding on ATVs. In addition, based upon this reduction in injury rate, a cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted to determine the savings per injury averted among ATV riders with head protection. The authors found that 238 head injuries, including 2 fatalities per 100,000 ATV drivers with an average of 145 hours of annual operation, could be averted by the universal wearing of head protection while riding on ATVs. Taking into account the social direct and indirect costs of fatal and nonfatal head injuries at a 5% discount rate, US$364,306 could be saved per injury averted over a 50-year period if there were universal wearing of head protection by ATV drivers. If the exposure is adjusted to 2000 hours per year for an equivalent work year, 3276 head injuries could be averted including 23 fatalities per 100,000 at a social cost savings of US$509,172.

Simple solutions for reduced fish farm hazards.

Aquaculture poses emerging challenges for agricultural safety and health. Fish farming has many of the same hazards as other types of farming, but it also poses additional hazards associated with water impoundments and night-time work. In a multidisciplinary approach, researchers from four universities are identifying occupational hazards in fish farming and identifying no-cost or low-cost "simple solutions" to reduce or eliminate them. Simple solutions are discovered through farm visits so as to understand the countermeasures that individual stakeholders have taken to protect their workforce, and these countermeasures are documented and photographed to inform other farmers of these solutions. Equipping tractors with rollover protective structures is a standard practice to protect operators from serious injury in the event of an overturn. Other solutions identified include eliminating the need to climb feed bins to open and close the hatch for feed delivery by using a pull-cable at ground level. This simple technology eliminates the exposure to falling from an elevation, a risk that accounts for at least one reported death of a worker on a fish farm. Another solution is to replace metal paddles on a hatchery trough with plastic paddles that if and when entangled in a worker's hair or clothing slip on the rotating drive shaft and thus reduce laceration and entanglement injuries. Another simple solution to prevent entanglements in large pond aerators, used to mechanically dissolve oxygen into the water, that are operated by farm tractor power take-off shafts is to use electrically powered aerators. Bubble-type aerators are safer than electrically powered paddle aerators because workers are shielded from moving parts. Many additional simple solutions have been identified for a range of tasks in this environment.

Injury severity related to overturn characteristics of tractors.

INTRODUCTION: Early studies of injuries associated with overturns indicate that more fatalities occurred when a tractor overturned beyond 90 degrees (continuous roll) relative to the impact plane. Recently, the principle of preventing continuous rolls has re-emerged for the protection of riding lawnmower operators. METHOD: Related to tractors, a population-based study was conducted that compared the severity of fatal and nonfatal injuries between a 90 degrees and continuous roll for tractors equipped with rollover protective structures (ROPS) and not equipped with a ROPS (non- ROPS). In 2002, the Kentucky Farm Tractor Overturn Survey was administered to an 8% random sample (6,063) of Kentucky farm operators. The farmers responded to questions that differentiated between the types of overturns and operator injury outcomes for ROPS-equipped and non-ROPS tractors during overturn events. Overturn characteristics were collected that included 90 degrees to the side, beyond 90 degrees to the side, and to the rear for both ROPS-equipped and non-ROPS tractors. RESULTS: Of the 541 overturns reported in this study, 535 (99%) of the respondents reported the most recent overturn characteristics of the tractor: 92 (17%) were ROPS-equipped and 443 (83%) were non-ROPS. For side overturns, 67% of the rolls occurred with ROPS-equipped tractors, and 54% occurred with non-ROPS tractors. The percentages of deaths related to rolls to the side for ROPS-equipped and non-ROPS tractors were, respectively, 1.6% and 3.7%. There was one (2%) deaths related to 90 degrees rolls for ROPS-equipped tractors, whereas for continuous rolls there were 6.4% fatalities related to side overturns, 13% resulted in non-fatal injuries with an average of 1 day of hospitalization for ROPS-equipped tractors, and 39% resulted in non-fatal injuries with an average of 18 days of hospitalization for non-ROPS tractors. The results from this study indicated that a ROPS was more effective at stopping an overturn at 90 degrees than no ROPS, with an associated reduction in the severity of injury in the event of a tractor overturn.

Continuous overturn control of compactors/rollers by rollover protective structures.

The objective of this article is to report on the effectiveness of Rollover Protective Structures (ROPS) in preventing continuous overturns of compactors/rollers. This study is a case-based analysis of government investigation reports of injury-related overturns of compactors/rollers. The overturns were predominately on construction sites including road and embankment construction in the USA. Other sites included driveway and roadway maintenance or repair and transporting of compactors/rollers either by driving or when loading on or unloading from trailers. The principle intervention observed in controlling a continuous overturn (a roll beyond 90° relative to the impact surface) was the presence of a ROPS on a compactor/roller that serves as an anti-roll bar. The main outcome measures are cases of compactor/roller overturns that are restricted to a 90° roll or are continuous (exceed a 90° roll.) All cases of an overturn in which a ROPS was present resulted in no continuous overturn, and the cases involved with no ROPS averaged an overturn of 301°, showing a propensity for a continuous overturn. This case-based analysis identified a ROPS on compactors/rollers as an effective control for reducing the risk of an overturn to 90° relative to the impact plane.

Cost-effectiveness of roll-over protective structures.

BACKGROUND: Roll-over protective structures (ROPS) are proven to prevent fatalities from agricultural tractor overturns, accounting for more than one-third of all production agriculture-related fatalities in the United States. In 1997, there were approximately 1.2 million ROPS-retrofittable tractors in the United States. METHODS: A decision analysis is used to compare the health outcomes of installing ROPS on retrofittable tractors, relative to doing nothing. A cost-effectiveness analysis builds on these results to assess the costs and benefits of installing ROPS on retrofittable tractors. RESULTS: Doing nothing would result in 1,450 fatalities and 1,806 nonfatal injuries, while installing ROPS would prevent 1,176 fatalities and 957 nonfatal injuries. Installing ROPS would cost $489,373 per injury prevented. CONCLUSIONS: Installing ROPS on retrofittable tractors would reduce fatalities from tractor overturns by more than 80% and nonfatal injuries by about 53%. The cost per injury prevented would be similar to that of other injury-preventing interventions. ROPS would help prevent additional injuries from falling off tractors and tractor collisions with motor vehicles.