fredf
Member
- Location
- SW Co Durham
As said I know the wider family but not the man killed. The baler was possible new this year.
Tom
Baler accident.
- Thread starter had e nuff
- Start date
As said I know the wider family but not the man killed. The baler was possible new this year.
Tom
Y Fan Wen
Member
- Location
- N W Snowdonia
I hear something strange. I need to get out and walk round the outfit to identify this strange noise.
How would I do that please?
caveman
Member
- Location
- East Sussex.
I guess you've got to toss up as to whether a bearing, slack adjuster on a chain or even a complete baler is worth more than a leg, arm or your life?
marco
Member
- Location
- tipperary, ireland
I think it's got to a stage where turning off the pto isn't enough, now that alot of new machinery have auto functions.
- Location
- South Molton
I knew the guy who was killed.
Sadly i understand he was trying to pull a tractor hooked to the top link hole. A preventable accident.
Y Fan Wen
Member
- Location
- N W Snowdonia
But what risk am I taking by walking round a machine, six feet away, and looking at all the visible moving parts?
Note the 'six feet' which means if I trip I won't hit anything except ground.
- Location
- South West
A real nice genuine guy that was very well known and a friend to almost every one in the area and had a smile and time for anyone he meet and a wonderful bus driver and spanner man for Fergy / MF's 100 serious and pre models. And tragically taken the day before his 65th birthday.
- Location
- North Notts
Because if you cant quite see it you will take a closer look.
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Put a weight on the seat.
Y Fan Wen
Member
- Location
- N W Snowdonia
You might.
JD-Kid
Member
- Location
- Akaroa.. New Zealand
any ideas on make of baler PM me if you want to not say on here
i know the family of the guy killed in NZ and wonder if it was the same brand
the PTO thing on seats what happpens with grain augers or slury mixers tub grinders etc there are times people are not on seats
i know the family of the guy killed in NZ and wonder if it was the same brand
the PTO thing on seats what happpens with grain augers or slury mixers tub grinders etc there are times people are not on seats
- Location
- East Sussex
That is one of the more insane safety devices I've come across. Going down a steep hill with a bale trailer on the back of the manitou when I hit a hidden badger\drain hole. Did have lots of engine braking until my weight (9.5 stone) shifted in the seat and it decided to go into neutral!!!!!!!!!
icanshootwell
Member
- Location
- Ross-on-wye
I think everyone who runs a baler should know the make of it, I feel upset for the family who must be going through hell, i would imagine he was an experienced driver, when i think of the amount of times i have had my head inside a baler, it sends shivers down my spine, I have to say i have electric spools and would not trust them like the old levers which were either pumping or neutral, like a few have said all balers should have ram locks.
ollie989898
Member
Other industries take H & S far more seriously, it is true. I know several people who are involved in the HGV world. in factories or that of earth moving etc, it's just a completely different mindset. I think that in many industries the health and safety aspect of their operation is deliberately exaggerated to 110% at all times, so that the workforce accept it as habit.
- Location
- East Sussex
The trouble is that all this safety training at work places seem to permeate through and sanitise people's lives. Nothing is their fault and their own poor attention or lack of awareness is somehow the responsibility of others.
Goweresque
Member
- Location
- North Wilts
I was think about the whole farming accident rate thing yesterday as I was on a long drive, and it did occur to me that the excessive rate may be more down to the structure of the farming industry than farmers being particularly more likely to take excessive risks.
After all, what other industry operates in areas with such intrinsic dangers and operates such large amounts of dangerous equipment, AND is also basically a cottage industry where the workers are as often as not the business owners as well, and the management is equally likely to be the owner too? In most other dangerous industries the workers are employees, as are management, both employed by large corporations, and those corporations have legal responsibilities for their employees. No-one has a legal responsibility for a self employed person, they are on their own. If they wish to take stupid risks, there is no-one to stop them, in the way there would be if an employee on a building site or in a factory did. Management control, financial risk and practical risk are all together in one person.
All of which suggests that no amount of cajoling and even legal measures are going to change much, while the people out in the field are largely the same people who own and run the business. When the workers are mostly employees, and indeed the management as well to a much larger degree, then things will change, because no employee wants to take the owners risk on his head, but while the person taking the risk is the same person who gains financially by the risk coming off, then human nature will continue to cause people to weigh the potential financial rewards (not spending money on fixing something properly, or getting a job done quicker by cutting corners) against the danger of catastrophe.
Basically it appears to me that until farming rationalises into units big enough to justify employed managers, and full time staff doing all the work, and the owners are not day to day hands on workers as well, then the accident rate will continue to be excessively high, relative to all other industries.
After all, what other industry operates in areas with such intrinsic dangers and operates such large amounts of dangerous equipment, AND is also basically a cottage industry where the workers are as often as not the business owners as well, and the management is equally likely to be the owner too? In most other dangerous industries the workers are employees, as are management, both employed by large corporations, and those corporations have legal responsibilities for their employees. No-one has a legal responsibility for a self employed person, they are on their own. If they wish to take stupid risks, there is no-one to stop them, in the way there would be if an employee on a building site or in a factory did. Management control, financial risk and practical risk are all together in one person.
All of which suggests that no amount of cajoling and even legal measures are going to change much, while the people out in the field are largely the same people who own and run the business. When the workers are mostly employees, and indeed the management as well to a much larger degree, then things will change, because no employee wants to take the owners risk on his head, but while the person taking the risk is the same person who gains financially by the risk coming off, then human nature will continue to cause people to weigh the potential financial rewards (not spending money on fixing something properly, or getting a job done quicker by cutting corners) against the danger of catastrophe.
Basically it appears to me that until farming rationalises into units big enough to justify employed managers, and full time staff doing all the work, and the owners are not day to day hands on workers as well, then the accident rate will continue to be excessively high, relative to all other industries.
ollie989898
Member
That is modern Britain today per se I am afraid. Health and safety ethos has nothing to do with it. It is I think a decline in our society, for what reasons I cannot say but I can try to illustrate what I mean.
The last time we had serious snow fall? It was hilarious. The average attitude of modern Britain was: 'our road is covered in snow and no one can get out of the development. Where are the council to clear it' they scream in mock outrage, stamp feet, go online and log into Daily wail comments section to vent their fury.
Meanwhile I got a snow shovel dug two tracks up the road just wide enough for the wheels in about 10 minutes and drove off...
I have read it on this and other forums, too- there is a general level of what I would term 'fecklessness' in much of Britain today. There is little community spirit in many areas, and in various trades and businesses you might encounter on a visit to the local city or town, you get the impression that many people involved in many jobs simply can't be assed.
As for health and safety in farming, it is obvious that a lot of people are openly taking the razz. Some kit that you see on the road is plainly not safe and if it wouldn't pass an MOT type test for road use, should you be using it at all anyway? A varying portion of farm kit is either old or neglected and has visible faults. None of this would be tolerated in other industries. An operator would refuse to use it, a note would be left condemning the machine and it would be left static until it was repaired. This is virtually standard procedure for many industries as I am sure many here with experience of them would recall.
BTS
Member
- Location
- Burns KS usa
I am sorry for the families loss.
I knew of someone (friend of a friend of a friend) that was killed by a baler when he was trying to unplug it when it pulled him in.
I watched (horrified) at work cleaning pens (work at a dog kennel) when the grandson of the boss had a real old IH small square baler hooked up to a JD 4020, he was trying to bale straw for his chickens, he ran several round bales through a grinder and made rows that were approx 3' tall. That old baler was never meant to run in that high of a windrow, the grandson running it is probably in his late 20's early 30's at most. He had his 2 kids out there (maybe 2 1/2 and 4 years old) the kids were around 20' away from the baler, the baler kept plugging due to the high windrow, the guy kept getting off the tractor and adjusting the baler while the PTO was running. Finally the boss (grandfather) came out on his utility vehicle and pickup the little kids. The old baler has no shields, big flywheel on the side with no covers at all, I knew I was going to witness a horrible accident and I didn't want to be apart of any of it.
A few years ago there was also a kid (probably 16 or 18 years old). He was sowing wheat when the drill got a build up of straw in front of it, the kid climbed out of the tractor, walked the tongue to the front of the drill while the tractor was still driving down the field. While trying to pull the straw out he fell off, his grandfather was just driving up in his pickup and saw the whole thing happen. The grandfather drove ahead and jumped in the tractor. The kid was killed by the time the tractor was stopped.
A lot of these accidents can be prevented if people would take the time but everyone seems to be in a hurry now days....
I knew of someone (friend of a friend of a friend) that was killed by a baler when he was trying to unplug it when it pulled him in.
I watched (horrified) at work cleaning pens (work at a dog kennel) when the grandson of the boss had a real old IH small square baler hooked up to a JD 4020, he was trying to bale straw for his chickens, he ran several round bales through a grinder and made rows that were approx 3' tall. That old baler was never meant to run in that high of a windrow, the grandson running it is probably in his late 20's early 30's at most. He had his 2 kids out there (maybe 2 1/2 and 4 years old) the kids were around 20' away from the baler, the baler kept plugging due to the high windrow, the guy kept getting off the tractor and adjusting the baler while the PTO was running. Finally the boss (grandfather) came out on his utility vehicle and pickup the little kids. The old baler has no shields, big flywheel on the side with no covers at all, I knew I was going to witness a horrible accident and I didn't want to be apart of any of it.
A few years ago there was also a kid (probably 16 or 18 years old). He was sowing wheat when the drill got a build up of straw in front of it, the kid climbed out of the tractor, walked the tongue to the front of the drill while the tractor was still driving down the field. While trying to pull the straw out he fell off, his grandfather was just driving up in his pickup and saw the whole thing happen. The grandfather drove ahead and jumped in the tractor. The kid was killed by the time the tractor was stopped.
A lot of these accidents can be prevented if people would take the time but everyone seems to be in a hurry now days....
- Location
- southern riverina Australia
Happened here last season too. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Fagg-dies-rescued-hay-baler-near-Geelong.html
If balers were more easy to free blockages then this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Anyone who has blocked a welger in very thick silsge will know it can be a nightmare too clear the pickup to windguard, Perhaps more thought needs to be put into a hydraulic lift to clear the windguard and maybe a hydraulic reverser?
If balers were more easy to free blockages then this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Anyone who has blocked a welger in very thick silsge will know it can be a nightmare too clear the pickup to windguard, Perhaps more thought needs to be put into a hydraulic lift to clear the windguard and maybe a hydraulic reverser?