Farm boy dies in ATV rollover while helping father chop silage.
NIOSH 2005 Jul; :1-6
During the summer of 2004, an eight-year-old farm boy was killed while helping his father and a neighbor chop hay for silage on their dairy farm. The father was driving a tractor pulling a silage chopper and silage wagon in the field. The boy was helping, driving to and from the field location on a 4-wheeled all-terrain vehicle (ATV), and assisting in the hookup for each silage wagon. A neighbor was also helping by emptying the silage wagons into a blower which blew the silage into silage bags then transporting the empty wagon back to the field. The boy was driving the ATV back and forth on a dirt field drive, which was also used by dairy cows going to and from their pasture. After the last load of the evening, the boy was returning to the house on the ATV after 10 PM. He stopped on the side of the road and turned off the ATV's lights. The neighbor drove by on his way home and noticed that the boy had stopped the ATV and was standing beside the road. After the boy got back onto the ATV, and before he turned on its lights, it appears he drove forward up a slight field embankment causing the ATV to roll over on its top and pinning him to the ground. When the father returned in his tractor later on the same road, he found the boy and the ATV upside-down with the handlebars on the boy's chest. The boy was not breathing. The father immediately drove to the house to call for help then returned to his son. Recommendations based on our investigation are as follows: 1. Parents should be aware of laws concerning ATVs and follow recommendations for the appropriate size of machine for the age of the rider. Youth under the age of 16 should not operate full-sized ATVs. 2. ATV operators should participate in a hands-on ATV safety training course.
Region-7; Accident-analysis; Accident-prevention; Accidents; Injuries; Injury-prevention; Traumatic-injuries; Work-operations; Work-analysis; Work-areas; Work-performance; Work-practices; Safety-education; Safety-equipment; Safety-measures; Protective-measures; Equipment-design; Equipment-operators; Farmers; Agricultural-industry; Agricultural-machinery; Agricultural-processes; Agricultural-workers; Agriculture; Age-factors; Children
Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
NTIS Accession No.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Iowa Department of Public Health