A 45-year-old farmer was working with two neighbors who had come to help him load corn into a wagon to feed cattle. They were using a horizontal bottom conveyor to move corn out of the corn crib. Then they used a flight elevator to load it into the wagon. The elevator was powered by a power take-off shaft from the tractor. The equipment was old but functional. After finishing the job on one end of the corn crib, the two companions began cleaning out the tunnel, while the farmer took the machinery and started unloading corn from the crib’s opposite end.

The two men in the tunnel heard the tractor engine slow down momentarily and ran to see if anything was wrong. They found the farmer wrapped around the exposed shaft that powered the elevator. They could clearly see he had severe injuries to an arm, leg and his chest. A rescue crew took the farmer to hospital, but he’d lost too much blood and was pronounced dead.

All power take-off drives and exposed drive train parts on farm machinery should be completely shielded. Failing that, the victim should have kept well clear of the tractor’s power take-off shaft and other hazardous machine parts. Loose clothing around moving machinery is a safety hazard.

Source: Iowa Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program, Case Report 04IA006