Farm accidents

johnboy6930

farm accidents can be prevented if people take there time..hope alot of awareness has been spread throw this so no more accidents like mine happen

Username John

jeff greene wrote: »

Most of these stories are totally down to stupidity and needless risk taking, hardly accidents, I mean the HSA have no hope, when basic common sense is missing!

In my case I cannot disagree - it was being foolhardy and rushing which landed us in it...
Am I still foolhardy - not as much, I think anyways
Do I still rush - yes, afraid so...

My experience has made me wonder tho why people think its a good idea to remove a cab from a tractor cos "it looks better" or taking the doors off to "let the fine summer breeze in"

bbam

mikemac wrote: »

There aren't many open slurry pits around today
Actually I don't know current regulations, are these allowed anymore?

Anyway, open slurry pits.
As there is a crust on top it can support the weight of a small child. And innocent that they are they kick balls or chase the cat across them and end up sinking
I know as I did this and had to be pulled out :rolleyes:
Years later my parents still bring it up

Slurry and children is deadly

We still have one
As kids we used to dare each other to walk across, I kid you not :eek:
It's about 8 feet deep..

We were allowed to play unsupervised round the yard.. My girls are only allowed down with me and only for a walk, there is never work going on..

Bizzum

johnboy6930 wrote: »

farm accidents can be prevented if people take there time..hope alot of awareness has been spread throw this so no more accidents like mine happen

Sorry to hear about your accident Johnboy.

I have a word of warning so say about loading cattle.
A few years ago loading cattle with my father, a bullock kicked back as the trailer gates were being closed behind him, the gate caught my father in the face, knocking him back down the ramp onto his back on the ground. Nothing broken thankfully but he looked like he done a few rounds with Mike Tyson!
Luckily I got the gates shut and the ramp up before the cattle could reverse on top of him. We are very conscious of it now and I've heard several similar stories of farmers being hurt loading cattle.

pakalasa

A neighbour of mine was hurt like this, loading cattle.

MfMan

Bizzum wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your accident Johnboy.

I have a word of warning so say about loading cattle.
A few years ago loading cattle with my father, a bullock kicked back as the trailer gates were being closed behind him, the gate caught my father in the face, knocking him back down the ramp onto his back on the ground. Nothing broken thankfully but he looked like he done a few rounds with Mike Tyson!
Luckily I got the gates shut and the ramp up before the cattle could reverse on top of him. We are very conscious of it now and I've heard several similar stories of farmers being hurt loading cattle.

Aye, closing gates like this, like working a chainsaw or an angle grinder, is best done at arms length.

Bizzum

MfMan wrote: »

Aye, closing gates like this, like working a chainsaw or an angle grinder, is best done at arms length.

I'm not so sure that arms length is the safest way in any of the examples you give!
I tend now to lead with my shoulder and keep tight to the gate.
The problem as I see it, is them light gates really fly at you if they take a kick. I feel much safer going in shoulder to the gate.
I'd be interested to hear other posters opinions?

whelan1

local knackery man was telling me of another knackery man:) who was loading a dead animal in an open yard, he was pushing the trailer door back up when a cow came from behind and walloped him in the back with her head.. he managed to crawl under the lorry but he broke ribs etc

weefarmer

About 12 years ago the aul fella was feedin a neighbours animals for a weekend and putting bales into a yard,
dad had a sore back and couldnt reach the lever on the bale lifter (there instead of a pull rope) so I was pushin it forward as he put up the lifts and next thing it jammed on the cab,
It ripped my full finger open, did 2 days in hospital and 12-14 stitches I think,
It was such a simple mistake but the last thing id have thought as an 11 yr old.

X1R

This should bring back a few memories:
One fine summers evening (1989-1990) after loading up the trailer with the final load of square bales from the field, myself and 2 younger brothers were sitting on the load (that was the reward for helping out), dad was driving the 35 in 3rd, low range box, when the load split. I remember seeing my brothers dissapear over the far side of the load. When I got my head around what was happening, bounced off a bale back under the trailer, reached up and grabbed the first thing I could (the trailer chassis) looked down to see my foot trailing the ground between the twin wheels of the trailer. Pops was NOT happy. Not a mark on anyone, thank god.

A few years later dad was stacking round bales in the shed with his ford 4600 and quickie loader (his first test with a loader) and as I was walking up to the tractor to let him know the dinner was ready, the bales collapsed. The first one hit me, I bounced off the cab and back into the shed under the rest of the falling bales. By the time he and my brothers had taken the 7 bales off me he was in a fair sweat. I had been trapped on the ground by a bale on my right arm but luckly the void made by round bales side by side saved me. The dinner wasn't eaten that night.

We buy in our hay since, joking aside it doesn't take long for an accident to happen and with the first of November comming up soon, keep safe girls and boys.

13spanner

I was driving the wrapper home one evening and a car insisted on being within inches of the back of it the whole time. With the shape of the damper/mat on the wrapper, if I had to brake hard she would have been inside under it with only herself to blame. I'm good to pull in if I can, and it's nice to get a beep or wave when you do. My father got a kick off a bullock right on the chin loading the crush for dosing a few months back. Needless to say, that bullock got the dose and a bit of wavin pipe on the side

Bodacious

Bizzum wrote: »

johnboy6930 wrote: »

farm accidents can be prevented if people take there time..hope alot of awareness has been spread throw this so no more accidents like mine happen

Sorry to hear about your accident Johnboy.

I have a word of warning so say about loading cattle.
A few years ago loading cattle with my father, a bullock kicked back as the trailer gates were being closed behind him, the gate caught my father in the face, knocking him back down the ramp onto his back on the ground. Nothing broken thankfully but he looked like he done a few rounds with Mike Tyson!
Luckily I got the gates shut and the ramp up before the cattle could reverse on top of him. We are very conscious of it now and I've heard several similar stories of farmers being hurt loading cattle.

+1

Guy close to me is in a bad way only last week bullock kicked back and gate caught him in the face. It's like a game of russian roullette those couple of seconds until the ramp is secured.

Happened to me and a buddy I asked to help me loading a cracked bul weanling last winter, gates closed , ramp halfway closed when he cleared the lot down on top of us .. Luckily we fell backwards and not under the ramp.

MfMan

Bizzum wrote: »

I'm not so sure that arms length is the safest way in any of the examples you give!
I tend now to lead with my shoulder and keep tight to the gate.
The problem as I see it, is them light gates really fly at you if they take a kick. I feel much safer going in shoulder to the gate.
I'd be interested to hear other posters opinions?

I mean that when working a grinder and certainly a chainsaw, it's advised not to hold the implement into your chest, rather hold it out straight keeping your arms rigid so that if kickback occurs your arms should be able to deflect it up or away to the side. Similarly, if an animal kicks back when closing trailer gates, your arms may take the main thrust of the blow and cushion your body against worse injuries. Not easy I know if working with heavy gates or on an angled ramp. BTW, do you use the lock or bracket that locks one gate onto another when closing? A small thing but could make a difference.

5live

I was helping an electrician put up lights in the cubicle house a few years back and my job was to throw the wire over the rafters. I was just finished the second rafter and coming down when the ladder slipped. I let go and was falling when the top of the ladder just caught a gate resting on top of the cubicles. I fell through the ladder and landed on my side, breaking the ladder. I broke a rib and, only for the gate on the cubicles, i would have broken a lot more.

Brace the end of a ladder if you dont have someone to hold it, guys

redzerologhlen

I am amazed by the amount of close calls that people have had and your just hearing from a small group of people who post here regularly. Great thread to raise awareness and a bit of an eye opener to hear a lot of the lucky escapes!!

whelan1

i was pushing up a lorry cattle trailer ramp with another lad , he let go when the door was half way up and the door fell on my back:mad: also got a belt of a flying kick bar just above my eye... slipped on cleanings and dislocated my knee

dryan

Back in the late seventies, we were building a slatted shed at home. I was 3 - went out into the field and fell asleep in the grass one fine day. My father was moving some stones and blocks and drove over me with the massey 135. Back wheel came across my shoulder and skinned the side of my head/face. He then let the back box down on top of me. Spent a few weeks in hospital - all i suffered really was a broken collar bone.
Have a 3 year old lad now meself and it scares the s**t out of me every day i bring him out with me.

Muckit

Bizzum wrote: »

I'm not so sure that arms length is the safest way in any of the examples you give!
I tend now to lead with my shoulder and keep tight to the gate.
The problem as I see it, is them light gates really fly at you if they take a kick. I feel much safer going in shoulder to the gate.
I'd be interested to hear other posters opinions?

I have to agree with you bizzum. There's no place for a fool or a coward around cattle. The closer you are the better I think. Like the matadors, one small move to the side will get you out a lot of trouble...if your quick!

A kick back is always a risk while loading. Worse still with a tractor trailer, if they kick the gate up out of it's hinges:rolleyes:

I've seen in the IFJ there on two different weeks, lads had built a concrete loading ramp (about a foot off the ground) with precast walls and a backing gate. It ensured that the ramp of the trailer (especially lorry/tractor trailers) had a slighter slope. Cattle just walked up it.

Ifor williams type cattle trailers have made loading cattle a lot easier.
From looking on youtube, most of the US cattle lorries load cattle from a single file chute that's sloped up to the trailer. The trailer has no ramp, just a single narrow door. Cattle seem to load very easily in 'follow the leader' style with little shouting or stick.

Muckit

whelan1 wrote: »

i was pushing up a lorry cattle trailer ramp with another lad , he let go when the door was half way up and the door fell on my back

You were very lucky it wasn't more serious. Always stand to the side. If the springs or the cattle pushed gates and came back you could have been crushed.

Speaking of gates, I notice very few tractor cattle trailer gates lock into each other, like the aluminium IW jeep type trailers. Ours do. It gives great peace of mind when opening or closing a ramp.

pakalasa

I work in a factory that's American owned. We've had a serious push on Safety the last couple of years. To be honest, a lot of this is down to insurance. If the number of 'reportable incidents' are below a certain amount, insurance becomes very cheap. It's interesting to see the approach they take.

They look at each operation and they identify what is dangerous and a potential risk to the operators. The ideal remedy then is to engineer out the risk. Say for example, the side door on a machine can be wired so that the machine cuts out if opened, when the machine is running. If changes can't be made, then the workers are told of the risk and trained to 'work safely'. It sounds like a lot of bulsh1t, but it really works. All these things are shown to reduce accidents over time.

Bringing that approach to a farm. You could sit down and make a list of all the dangerous things, like PTO shafts, open slurry pits, bad brakes on the tractor etc.....and then actually do something about them.
For things that can't be changed like dangerous cattle etc, then younger children could be taught why they are dangerous.
Sorry for the rant, but Irish Farms are the most dangerous place to work in Ireland. All very well, until it lands at your own doorstop.

snowman707

a pb LM cow slipped while getting up after a difficult calving i was pulling the calf out the way the and she trapped my left leg , very bad fracture of tibia and fibula ,and also had ligament damage which wasn't apparent at first , still have the hardware in place

fractured a couple of ribs while trying to stomach tube a sick cow,


closest escapes I had,

about 35 years ago was hitting out the fields on the tractor . came to a gate way, lashing rain, decided to give it a couple of minutes to clear , fell asleep in the cab, (most likely hard night before) awoke of a sudden with tractor rolling back wards gathering speed about 40 feet from a 30 feet straight drop, stood on the brakes and full lock on the steering back wheel lifted about a foot off the ground but it stopped


was pinned to the ground by a friesian bull luckily close to the hedge managed to get up and wrap his chain around an ash tree , got help and went back out in the tractor and he had the bark stripped and the embankment levelled and was going berserk, got a friend who had a high power rifle and shot him there and then

whelan1

i suppose the worst bit is the unexpectedness of these accidents but if we can teach or kids what to do in a situation, that might stop it getting worse it would help alot.... i remember my brother going missing when he was around 3 , my mother thought he had fallen in the slurry pit and was in an awful way, my dad was going mental trying to find him too, it was awful , will never forget it, we all thought he was gone... he was found asleep in the hayshed:)

Muckit

pakalasa wrote: »

I work in a factory that's American owned. We've had a serious push on Safety the last couple of years. To be honest, a lot of this is down to insurance. If the number of 'reportable incidents' are below a certain amount, insurance becomes very cheap. It's interesting to see the approach they take.

They look at each operation and they identify what is dangerous and a potential risk to the operators. The ideal remedy then is to engineer out the risk. Say for example, the side door on a machine can be wired so that the machine cuts out if opened, when the machine is running. If changes can't be made, then the workers are told of the risk and trained to 'work safely'. It sounds like a lot of bulsh1t, but it really works. All these things are shown to reduce accidents over time.

Bringing that approach to a farm. You could sit down and make a list of all the dangerous things, like PTO shafts, open slurry pits, bad brakes on the tractor etc.....and then actually do something about them.
For things that can't be changed like dangerous cattle etc, then younger children could be taught why they are dangerous.
Sorry for the rant, but Irish Farms are the most dangerous place to work in Ireland. All very well, until it lands at your own doorstop.

Not being smart, but what you talk about are the basics of putting together a Safety Statement. Every farm and business should have one. It's the law. You eliminate the risk as you said, or if that's not possible within certain practical or economic parameters, you need to manage the risk. Risks are rated high, medium, low. You try to get everything into the low category.

Safety is all about habit. It's as easy to develop a good habit as a bad one. There are many health and safety related initiatives like the introduction of seatbelts, or the smoking ban etc, where people grumbled at first. Now they are the accepted norm. It's the same with farming. Instead of carrying out tasks a certain way because 'we've always done it that way', we need to assess what we do and identify the safest possible way to carry out that task. It needn't cost more money or take more time. Safe work practices should be the norm.

JohnBoy

I agree, we're working round our place to identify as many issues as possible and get them fixed, the slurry pit is open.

It's getting the fence repaired a new 2m tall mesh gate and I'm going to devise a sprung gate for the scraping in points. just not worth it. I've seen the dog get into bother and my daughter shouting down to him, what would happen if she took a notion of trying to go in after him?????




As for dangersous stock my attitude is kill or be killed, simple as that.

hughjohn

This is my list!

Overturned 35x by driving too fast downhill , no cab or rollbar, got thrown clear and escaped.

Operated pick up hitch while standing on drawbar and crushed foot as the hitch closed ( didnt look where foot was before raising lift). Was able to unlatch it and drive mile an a half home (no mobiles back in the 80's) before passing out.
Foot took over 2 years to heal properly.

Bit of steel in eye when angle grinding without goggles.

Mashed thumb an forefinger when pto started to turn as I attached shaft.

Overturned 7610 when silage pit i was rolling split.

Had rear tractor wheel fall on my leg when changing over to rowcrops

And finally a tractor came off the jacks and rolled foward while i was working underneath it. Luckily all wheels were still on it.

All this makes me look a careless idiot but it is over 40 years and is the total truth.

I now ask myself about all the possible risks before tackling any job , i am older,wiser , safer and still alive.

I am not alone, I've seen people adjust machines with pto running, leaning in under tipped trailers and worst of all kicking lumps of grass into running balers.

drBill

hughjohn wrote: »

This is my list!

Overturned 35x by driving too fast downhill , no cab or rollbar, got thrown clear and escaped.

Operated pick up hitch while standing on drawbar and crushed foot as the hitch closed ( didnt look where foot was before raising lift). Was able to unlatch it and drive mile an a half home (no mobiles back in the 80's) before passing out.
Foot took over 2 years to heal properly.

Bit of steel in eye when angle grinding without goggles.

Mashed thumb an forefinger when pto started to turn as I attached shaft.

Overturned 7610 when silage pit i was rolling split.

Had rear tractor wheel fall on my leg when changing over to rowcrops

And finally a tractor came off the jacks and rolled foward while i was working underneath it. Luckily all wheels were still on it.

All this makes me look a careless idiot but it is over 40 years and is the total truth.

I now ask myself about all the possible risks before tackling any job , i am older,wiser , safer and still alive.

I am not alone, I've seen people adjust machines with pto running, leaning in under tipped trailers and worst of all kicking lumps of grass into running balers.

Bloody hell that's some list of adventures!! But at least you're still here and older and wiser!

The angle grinder + goggles one seems obvious these days but only last week near my work I saw a guy up on a scissors lift complete with his safety harness, high vis jacket, helmet, barrier around his work area, etc. He was cutting a slot into a slab of granite with a 4 " grinder and it must have been an intricate cut because his face was right up against it, his nose was almost touching the grinder and you could hardly see his head through the dust. Helmet on, but no mask, no ear protectors and of course no goggles.

That's not a farm story but another fright I had way back was when I was standing on the main road waiting to turn a few cattle that my dad was hunting out of the field. Managed not to notice that one heifer was ahead of the rest and she galloped out onto the road before I could signal an oncoming car. He stood on the brakes and just managed to miss her, though partly because she leapt over his bonnet for the last couple of feet. Got some bollicking from the driver + well deserved!

pakalasa

Years ago, the clutch went on the tractor about a mile from the house. I could get it in the very lowest gear, so decided to drive it home. Met someone along a narrow road so pulled in at a bridge, to let them pass. Hit the clutch, nothing happened. Gear so low that the brakes were useless. Turn off the tractor just in time as the front wheels were half over the side of the bridge. A close one.
Did manage to get it in reverse and get it home eventually. Never told anyone what happened.:o

20silkcut

I once missed a gear going down a hill with a full load of silage and reached an astonishing speed , if anything was coming against me it was good night irene. Mercifully the hill bottomed out and the road rose again.

djmc

20silkcut wrote: »

I once missed a gear going down a hill with a full load of silage and reached an astonishing speed , if anything was coming against me it was good night irene. Mercifully the hill bottomed out and the road rose again.

That happened me once when I tried to brake seals gave way wet brake system
there was no end to hill tell a town
I recon I got over 60mph and traveled 3 miles down hill tell luckily I found a nice soft place to crash.
Tipping a load of silage one summer the trailer poped out of worn hitch and the
draw bar came through the back window of the tractor and hit the roof on the inside

Kovu

I have far too many for the age I am.......

Youngest I remember is playing on an old horse drawn topper, Brother was sitting in the seat as he was older and bigger then me so he was the better driver....I was jumping all over the ting. Slipped and got the entire finger of the mower embedded in the crease of my knee. Amazing no tears, I remember walking back to the house and my mum giving out to me. Then off for a tetanus injection!

Same as earlier post, sitting on a load of square bales about 8 stacks high and all tipped off coming round a turn. Luckily I landed on my uncle who was sitting next to me

Found myself cornered at work by a bullock just after coming out of the chute (which, in all fairness to the lads working the gate, was tame enough in the chute itself) and it was head down snorting at me backed into the corner of the pen> Never knew I could clear a gate so fast in a dress.....:rolleyes:

Last august, cow had twins out on the land, she only took to the one that got up first, was trying to get the other to stand up and get moving towards her, which she was licking the other twin, and she charged, ended up in the gripe with the second calf, with her standing over me pucking and booing like a bull. Only for I had a good lock of keys with the car keys and belted her over the snout with them a few times, I swear she'd have been in the gripe after me. Had to leave the second calf for three hours and then return to pick it up in the back of the car (the one I hand reared)

Loading a half warmblood horse, he decided to turn in the trailer just as the ramp was going up, horseboxes don't tend to have the gates, and take a flying leap out the half closed ramp, with a lovely back kick as a oodbye present to me. I was fairly bruised that night.....

As recently posted, a green horse bolted with me on a main road, went round a blind corner at full gallop on an unshoed horse and no control whatsoever over him. Slipped on loose stones and I landed skew-ways with my leg under him.Luckily, it was nothing more then an impressive bruise but my arm still had a fairly large dent where i hit it with my hand.

There's probably more but these just spring to mind!