UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1574502.015 - Kayo Ranches

Inspection Information - Office: Ca Fresno

Investigation Summary

At 2:00 p.m. on January 25, 2022, an employee who had been working as a Ranch Ha nd on a cattle ranch for over 53 years tending 516 heads of cattle over 2400 acr es was killed. The employee performed general work, fence install/repairs, water basin maintenance and worked with the cattle. The employee had retired 2 years ago but continued to work at times to pay the employer back for allowing him to stay at a house located on the ranch and for additional pay. The employee had di sked a road approximately 1/4 mile from the shop/yard area to a pond. He returne d to retrieve a 1950 Ford tractor equipped with a scraper to smooth out the road he had disked. After he did not return home for lunch, his daughter went outsid e to search for him and found him wedged between the back tires of the tractor a nd the scraper. The tractor was still running with one of the tires spinning. It is unclear how the accident occurred and there were no witnesses. There were ma rks from where the tractor was parked to where the tractor came to rest against a wood pile. The tractor travelled approximately 200 to 250 feet. There was no e vidence that the employee worked on the tractor before the accident. The owner e xplained that putting the tractor in gear required the clutch to be engaged usin g the hand throttle on the right side. The owner's friend performed CPR and repo rted seeing no evidence that the employee had been run over or any tools lying a round or in the employee's possession. The employee had only minor visible injur ies. Local law enforcement responded and the employee was transported to a funer al home where the Coroner did an autopsy which is pending. The toxicology report came back clean and that a cardiac event was ruled out. The employee's death ha s been ruled as blunt force trauma and it can't be determined whether he was str uck and ran over by the tractor. The owner stated that there was nothing wrong w ith the tractor and the ranch had used it since purchasing it in 1973.

Keywords:agriculture, agriculture machinery/vehicle, blade, blunt force, blunt force trauma, equipment operator, grader, maintenance, road, road grader, roll-over, scraper, tractor, working alone