Tractor Safety Is Crucial During Harvest Months

For many, harvest season means bountiful crops and the joy of harvesting the fruits of the year’s labor. For tractor operators, however, harvest can be the most dangerous time of year with increased hours in the field, extended equipment use and the process of attaching and detaching various implements. As this year’s busy fall harvest season gets underway, Kubota Tractor Corp. is encouraging all tractor and equipment users to renew their emphasis on safety in observance of National Farm Safety and Health Week, Sept. 19-25, 2010. The specially designated week is sponsored by the National Education Center for Agriculture Safety.

During the harvest season a majority of equipment users will operate attachments using a power take-off shaft, or PTO. A PTO is an effective means of transferring power from the engine of a tractor to the implement and attachments, but it is also one of the most exposed, powerful parts of a tractor, which is why extra caution is necessary. The No. 1 rule is to always read the appropriate implement and attachment operator’s manual for operating guidelines and safety instructions. Here are some other essential tips for attachment and implement safety offered by Kubota:

PTO Safety
– NEVER work around rotating parts. Shut the tractor down, remove the key and wait for everything to stop turning before entering the PTO area. Always shut off the engine!

– Always keep the protection shields in place.
– An unguarded rotating shaft is very powerful and can entangle your clothes at a rate too fast to be stopped before serious injury occurs.

– Extra care is required when the operator is in close proximity to any newly attached implement, after attachment to the PTO, to avoid entanglement in any moving parts of the implement.

Loader Safety
– Never walk or work under a raised loader. Raise and lower loader arms slowly and steadily.

– Be sure tractor is properly ballasted before using loader.

– Always carry the loader as low as possible to the ground and watch for obstructions.

– Before raising the loader to full height, make sure the tractor is on level ground; if not, it may tip over – even if the tractor is not moving.

– Allow for the extra length of the loader when making turns.

Rotary Tiller Safety
– Never stand between the tractor and the tiller when inspecting or adjusting the tiller.

– Make sure there is no interference when you lift, back or turn the tiller.

– Never operate the tiller if any blade bolts are missing.

– If the tractor lunges while tilling hard soil, shift into a lower gear and/or reduce digging depth. If lunging persists, immediately stop the machine and review the tiller operator’s manual.

– At the end of a row, always raise the tiller to clear soil so that the tractor is not propelled forward by the force of the tiller blades.

Trencher Safety
– Check with local authorities before digging.

– Follow instructions on any underground cable and pipeline signs.

– Use the trencher only in applications for which it was designed.

– Make sure overload protection mechanisms are functioning and not bypassed.

– Do not dismount during operations and never leave an operating trencher unattended.

A complete list of attachment and implement safety tips can be found at www.kubota.com, including Kubota’s “Ten Commandments of Tractor Safety” brochure.