The National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative 2004 Report
The National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative was formalized with the release of the National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative 2004 report by the NIOSH-funded Agricultural Safety and Health Centers and the National Children's Center for Rural Agricultural Health and Safety. The report builds on many years of research and planning and demonstrates the commitment of NIOSH, the Agricultural Safety and Health Centers, and the National Children’s Center for Rural Agricultural Health and Safety to implementing its recommendations. Together, we propose to reduce the number of tractor-related injuries and fatalities in the US by:
- Improving surveillance and increasing the epidemiological information available
- Increasing the number of older tractors that get a roll bar with a seatbelt installed
- Increasing the number of tractor operators who regularly wear seatbelts on roll bar-equipped tractors
- Decreasing the frequency of extra riders on agricultural tractors
- Increasing the use of properly maintained machine guards on PTO drivelines and the equipment they power
- Improving lighting and marking of tractors and other agricultural machines on the road
- Decreasing the number of collisions between such machines and motor vehicles.
These goals are met through four action areas in the National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative 2004 report: Leadership,
Policy and Funding, Partnerships and Promotion, and Research.
A Little History
Activities to reduce deaths
from tractor overturns in the US began in the
1930’s
with the development of Rollover Protective
Structures (ROPS). The
1985 voluntary ROPS standard developed by the
American Society of Agricultural Engineers called for
most new tractors to have ROPS, but didn’t address
the two million tractors already in the US without
ROPS. While there were several successful local tractor
injury intervention programs, there was no sustained
or coordinated national program for education and behavior
change. The National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative
builds upon previous efforts in the United States to
develop policies in support of reducing tractor injuries
and fatalities. These include the Tractor Risk
Abatement and Control (TRAC) committee’s national
TRAC Policy Conference held at the University of Iowa
in 1997 and the 1988 report Agriculture at Risk: A
Report to the Nation.
Looking to the Future
The National Agricultural
Tractor Safety Initiative is building on an impressive body of tractor safety research conducted
across the United States. Moving towards a national tractor safety campaign, the Initiative has focused on synthesis of prior study results and research
on key elements for supporting a national public effort. These
elements include the cost of overturn and
highway collisions, the impact of standards, regulations,
and technology on access to ROPS, financial
incentives for ROPS retrofitting, community-based
programs for tractor safety, and forming partnerships
for a national safety campaign.
Need technical assistance? Contact Stacey Holland, sh3@u.washington.edu
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