Inspection Detail

Inspection: 311508006 - Jerry Leslie

Inspection Information - Office: Sc Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation

Investigation Summary

On April 17, 2008, an employee was helping his brother bush hog the side of a dam for the Pickens Soil and Water Conservation District. The employee's brother was operating a Case IH 90 tractor with seat belt and rollover protection on the slope of the dam, opposite the water. He was bush hogging, mowing and cutting brush, by traveling up and down the slope. His tractor was connected by a cable through a turn buckle pulley system attached to a large white oak tree to the employee's 1960 Model International Harvester I 1456 tractor, which was not equipped with rops or a seat belt nor due to it's age, was it required to be so equipped. As the employee's brother would go up and down the dam slope, the employee would go back and forth across the dam keeping the tension on the line connecting the two tractors. The employee's tractor's front tires ran off the top of the dam and bogged down. The employee then began to reverse the motor to back the tractor up onto the top of the dam when it lurched back and the rear tire went off the top of the dam onto the slope where his brother was clearing. The tractor flipped over and came down on top of employee, killing him.

Keywords: ROPS, SEAT BELT, STRUCK BY, TRACTOR, OVERTURN