Agricultural Safety: tips for those in the field
Bale Moving Disaster
In August of 1997 a 42-year-old Iowa farmer was working
to move 50 round bales from his field, before returning to his off farm job. The bales
were big round bales of oats weighing 1,500 to 2,000 pounds and were about 5-6 feet tall.
The oats had been planted as a cover crop for new alfalfa seeding, and the bales needed to
be moved off the field soon or they would kill the alfalfa underneath. The farmer had used
the same method to transport bales for about 5 years without incident.
The tractor used for moving the bales was a smaller,
older tractor made between 1957-1965, with fluid-filled tires. The fluid in the tires adds
weight to help keep the tractor on the ground when lifting heavy objects with the loader.
The tractor was equipped with a 3-point hitch bale mover on the rear of the tractor, and a
loader in the front that had been modified with two metal forks so he could move two bales
at one time. His method for moving the bales was to load a bale on the front of the
tractor first, sliding the forks and bucket under a bale. He would then raise the bucket
up above the front of the tractor and tilt the bucket back to shift the bale and seat it
better. This tractor did not have enough power to spear a bale mid-section and raise it
off the ground, so he had to go underneath and cradle it.
Normally, he would then lower the bucket to about a foot off the ground to
transport it, and back into a bale with the three-point hitch mover, pick up that bale,
and move both to the edge of the field.
The sequence during this event varied little from his
usual method. He slid the bale onto the front loader, raised it up, and this time left it
in the air. He then loaded a bale on the rear of the tractor, started across the field and
hit a gopher hole. The rear bale fell off from the jolt of hitting the hole. He hit the
brakes to stop and recover the fallen bale. Hitting the brakes caused the bale on the
front of the tractor to roll backwards onto the farmer.
He saw it coming and crouched down, getting his head
between the seat and the fender. The bale
struck him and rolled off. This farmer received numerous
injuries including a tear in his aorta near the heart, all his ribs were fractured,
pneumothorax (punctured lung) on one side, and T-12 vertebrae severely damaged.
He is now a paraplegic.
This case illustrates a couple of problems associated
with large bale handling that need to be addressed. The first problem is using an
under-powered tractor to move or transport large bales.
Moving two bales at once requires a tractor that is large enough, stable enough,
and powerful enough to handle it. The second problem is using a front carrying system that
allows a bale to roll back on the operator. In
this case, the tractor used forks that slid under the bale and lifted it, rather than
spearing the bale or picking it up with some type of grappling fork.
The third problem is one that occurs with too much
frequency on farms. Moving anywhere with a loader in a position above the top of the
tractor, especially with a load as heavy as a large round bale, is inviting trouble. This
haying season, please be careful. If you
don’t have time to do it safely, where will you find time to do it if you are
injured?