URBANA, Ill. – A University of Illinois (U of I) Cultivating Caution webinar series devoted to farm injury prevention and treatment continued on Aug. 12 with a look at first responder procedures for treatment of tractor rollovers, PTO (power take-off) and auger entanglements and other life-or-limb-threatening events. With farm family members or workers most often the first on the scene after a farm-related injury, expert recommendations for advanced first aid equipment to keep on hand were included in the webinar, which is archived on the U of I farmdoc website under the title “Severe Trauma on the Farm.”

Tractor incidents are the leading cause of death for farmers and farm workers over the past three years, according to Salah Issa, U of I assistant professor of agricultural and industrial safety and health, who tracks on-farm injuries for the university after working in a similar capacity for Purdue University. “We looked at hospital records throughout the U.S., and we found out that tractor-related injuries accounted for about 40 percent of all reported injuries. That’s a big number for a single incident,” he said, adding that his team at U of I identified some 24,000 fatal and non-fatal tractor incidents in the U.S. over the past 50 years.

According to Ed Aukamp, a paramedic field supervisor and former chief of the South Macon, Ill., Fire Protection District, knowing how to quickly respond to rollovers and other farm emergencies can often mean the difference between life and death. “The first thing the first responder must do is ensure that the vehicle is stable. The reason it has rolled is that it was in an unstable situation, and we don’t want to become a victim ourselves. We then have to look for ‘life threats’ to determine if the victim needs transport to a specialty trauma center. The most common injuries we see are typically entanglements, pinch-point (and) crush-type injuries that can lead to tissue asphyxiation,” he said.

Entanglement hazards involving PTOs most commonly involve being pulled into the rotating shaft via loose clothing, shoestrings or hair. Twenty-six percent of farm fatalities in the past three years have occurred as a result of entanglements, according to Issa’s research.

“It all goes back to teaching,” Issa said. “Don’t step over a rotating PTO drive line even if it has a shield; it’s not worth the risk. It’s not worth having something happen to you.”

The primary thing a first responder to such an event must do is to safely disable the power source of the implement the victim has become entangled with, according to Aukamp. Only then can a life threat assessment and extraction be considered. 

Issa recommends that kids and farm employees are instructed to keep long hair pulled back, never wear loose or baggy clothes around augers, PTO or any other farm equipment and eschew the wearing of hoodies, sweatpants and any clothing with strings or loose fringe to prevent entanglements. “A tractor PTO running at 500 rpm will pull in a seven-foot length of anything in one second,” he said.

Issa further recommends placing physical signs or stickers on potentially dangerous farm equipment so that young family members and employees are “weaned” with the knowledge that certain implements and items on the farm can maim or kill.

As part of the hourlong webinar, Aukamp offered step-by-step instruction on applying commercial tourniquets correctly in a field setting. He advised families and employers to purchase tourniquet kits that can be found on the internet or at local medical supply stores. “Exsanguinating bleeds in extremities have high potential for (death),” he said. “In addition to a regular first aid kit a lifesaving tool to have on hand is a tourniquet. They are very easy to use; you snug it up as tight as you can with the velcro, and then use the windlass to twist and turn.”

Agricultural workers are seven times more likely to die on the job than the average U.S. worker across all industries, according to Scott Heiberger, Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASHC) of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He cautioned that children are perhaps the most vulnerable ag community members when it comes to the potential for on-farm injuries.

“We know that more children and youth die working in agriculture than all other industries they might work in combined. 

Heiberger’s UMASHC is devoted to farm safety preparedness and relates first-hand stories of survivors of farm accidents through a series of injury prevention videos at: https://umash.umn.edu › spotlight-telling-the-story. The U of I Cultivating Caution webinar “Severe Trauma on the Farm” can be accessed at farmdoc.illinois.edu/webinars.

Additional Cultivating Caution webinar dates and topics are:

Sept. 9: Field Fires

Oct. 14: Farmer Mental Health

Nov. 11: Manure Pit Gases