A North Island farm worker narrowly avoided injury when an unmanned tractor rolled towards him, before continuing uncontrolled for 1.2km through a farm and crashing into trees.
The incident is the latest Safety Alert from Safer Farms, based on real-life incidents and aimed at providing key safety lessons for farmers.
On this occasion the worker at an east coast farm was feeding silage to stock and parked the tractor in a gateway, engaging it in “park” gear as he went to open the gate. The park gear failed and the worker had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit as the vehicle started rolling. It continued to roll through the farm for more than a kilometre before it was finally halted by trees.
Potential causes for the incident included possible wear and tear on the park gear due to operators “throwing” the tractor into park rather than coming to a complete stop first.
A further factor may have been a lack of back-up methods, such as lowering the front forks/hydraulics to the ground before getting out of the cab. Emergency brakes can also be engaged in conjunction with the transmission parkgate, but this can cause issues as operators can drive off with the brake on and strain the brake function.
It is recommended operators should only engage park once the tractor has fully stopped. The park lock and park brake should both be applied when parked or operating from a static position.
Operators should also double check for movement or instability – even when the park gear / brake is engaged – before leaving the cab. A back-up method should always be used, even if the ground seems relatively flat.
Safer Farms brings together farmers and senior leaders from across the agribusiness to lead and inspire the sector-wide Farm Without Harm strategy.
Lindy Nelson, chair of Safer Farms and a Farm Without Harm ambassador, said Safety Alerts are about sharing information and learning from one another.
“It’s a new approach to reducing harm.
“We’re encouraging farmers to discuss the Safety Alerts with their teams and ask if these incidents could happen on their farm. It’s also a good idea to look at what farmers have in place to prevent such an incident happening.”
The alert also underlines the importance of managers providing thorough operator assessment and training.
This includes raising awareness about overloading, including checking the size and weight of loads, ensuring operators know how to counterbalance the tractor effectively and removing hunger boards from wagons.
To view the Safety Alerts, please visit www.farmwithoutharm.org.nz/safety-alerts.
