Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1437936.015 - Cranney Farms

Inspection Information - Office: Boise Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 10:00 a.m. on October 3, 2019, an employee was working on a potato farm. He was not a migrant farm worker. He and a coworker were harvesting potatoes. The coworker was operating a John Deere model 8295R tractor. It was pulling, and powering through the tractor's power take-off (PTO), a Double L model 6540 windrower. The employee was operating a harvester. The windrower operated ahead of the harvester. They worked in tandem. The workers were clearing dirt and debris from the rollers of the windrower. The tractor was parked. The coworker turned on the PTO and hydraulics so that the belts and chains could move the dirt around. The employee hit the belts with a bar to dislodge the dirt. The steel bar or prybar that he was using fell from his hands through the conveyor rollers. A chain caught the bar and pulled it into the machine. Jammed by the bar, the belt stopped. The coworker turned off the PTO. The employee climbed onto the rollers of the windrower to dislodge the prybar. He asked his coworker to toggle the PTO on and off. The two were in communication. The coworker would engage the PTO and hydraulics, and the employee would try to dislodge the bar. The employee would then ask his coworker to turn everything off, and he would try again. The employee jumped onto the belt through the conveyor opening and was either standing or most likely squatting on the belt, when the belt shifted. The employee was caught between the conveyor opening and the belt. The coworker walked around the windrower, found the employee caught, and attempted to extract him. He was unsuccessful, so he went back into the cab to turn everything off. When he returned, he found the employee on the ground. When the prybar came loose, residual energy caused the conveyor rollers to move. The employee was struck by the prybar and pushed through a 33- by 31-inch (0.84 m by 0.79 m) conveyor opening onto the ground. The employee suffered broken ribs, lacerations, and a bruised lung. He was hospitalized.

Keywords: Agriculture, Agriculture Machinery/Vehicle, Caught In, Chain, Conveyor, Conveyor Belt, Farm, Farm Machinery, Farm worker, Fracture, Harvester, Harvesting, Jammed, Laceration, Lockout, Lung, Power Take-Off, Rib, Training