As farmers and ranchers, chores can be hard work. Pitching hay, grinding feed, and feeding the cattle. Although these chores don’t seem all that dangerous the machinery used for the job can be.
According to farminjuryresource, farmers are 800 percent more likely to die on the job than any other industry. Every day, 38 people are injured from a farm related accident according to Farm Safety. According to farmweeknow, in Nebraska 9 deaths of 65 and over was caused from tractor rollover and run overs. There is a way to prevent this. Research at the University of Missouri wanted to do something about it. So they created an app called VRPETERS or Vehicle Rollover Prevention Education Training Emergency Reporting System for your tablet or phone that is created to help accident prevention and assistance once a rollover has occurred. This app monitors how stable the tractor or vehicle is during its operation.
It then shows warning messages to the operator if the operation has become dangerous. This app further sends an email to the designated emergency contact with GPS coordinates and a map of the accident when the operator can not respond in time and a rollover is detected. According to npr.org, in 2014 nearly 180 people including 18 teenagers were killed in grain-related accidents. Farm safety needs to become a public awareness especially in agricultural communities. According to the National Safety Council 3.1 million people work on America’s 2.3 million farms and ranches, but 1,300 people die each year and 120,000 are injured. This means for every 100,000 farms about 25 people die each year and 243 people are injured. If rescue teams would have a simple tool called a Res-Q tube it could save many lives in danger in a corn bin.
This tool is simple and costs about $5,040 to invest in and could result in saving a life! However, according to deltafarmpress.com it states that it only takes 20 seconds to become engulfed in a grain bin. It also states that the average rescuetime for someone in a grain engulfment is 3.5 hours. According to transweb.com it shows that in 1 minute of a peron having no oxygen to the brain causes brain cells to die, but survival is still possible. In 3 minutes serious brain damage is likely, in 10 minutes many brain cells have died and the patient is unlikely to recover. Finally 15 minutes after lack of oxygen to the brain recovery is virtually impossible. If we could improve farm safety efforts than lives will be saved.
