Surviving a PTO Entanglement
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.
We can all preach ag safety. You can reiterate the lessons to your kids and personnel. But until you’re in that moment of slow motion when something is going wrong, it’s hard to connect.
Connect was something Brent Pollard, an Illinois farmer, did earlier this year. Pollard had gone to turn off a PTO when he became entangled…
“There was a break in the safety shield over the PTO and, when I went to go turn it off, it caught the hoodie I was wearing and then took all my clothes off and threw me to the ground.”
Pollard says three factors were in play that day that led to near fatal consequences…
“I don’t normally wear clothing that’s that large on me. It had gotten cold that night, so I put on a hoodie. Two, the safety shield shouldn’t have been cracked. It should get replaced. It’s one thing that you don’t notice when you’re not using the wagon and, unfortunately we probably get in a little bit of a hurry and don’t pay attention to that when we’re doing the task. And the other thing that didn’t help that day either is that I hadn’t been sleeping very well. I woke up that morning tired and was tired before we even started doing anything that day.”
Suitable clothing, a clear mind, and attention to detail: all aspects of ag safety as we continue a busy growing season.
