Agriculture remains the deadliest industry in the U.S., based on number of deaths per 100,000 workers. A leading cause of these fatalities is rollovers of tractors without rollover protective structures. Even more heartbreaking is knowing that many of these accidents are preventable.

Sept. 15-21 marks the 76th observance of National Farm Safety & Health Week. Its theme, Shift Farm Safety Into High Gear, gives farmers an occasion to tune up their safety approach by upgrading basic safety equipment like ROPS on older tractors.

“Moving and positioning large bales, using front-end loader attachments, mowing roadside ditches, and cleanup of brush or trees are a few high-fatality risk activities for using non-ROPS tractors,” says Charles Schwab, professor of ag engineering and Extension safety specialist at Iowa State University.

Don’t gamble with your life

Schwab says 99% of Iowa tractor overturn-related deaths can be prevented by ROPS. Rollover protection structures are designed and tested to keep the tractor operator in a safe area during an overturn event.

Tractors manufactured since 1985 come with ROPS as part of their original equipment. However, there is still concern because tractors last a long time, and many of the older models still have not been retrofitted with ROPS.

Choosing to operate a tractor without ROPS is gambling with your life. In a recent poll, 81% of Iowa farmers reported at least one tractor without ROPS on their farm. “The good news is that about 19% of Iowa farmers have ROPS on all of their tractors,” says J. Arbuckle, ISU Extension sociologist.

Some of the reasons Iowa farmers haven’t considered retrofitting ROPS on older tractors, according to the poll, are because they:

The poll also indicates the biggest motivator for having ROPS on a tractor is because it came with ROPS.

Arbuckle and Schwab agree it is positive that Iowa farmers accept ROPS that come with tractors. However, they also agree there is plenty of work ahead in getting all tractors equipped with rollover protection.

Source: ISU, which is responsible for information provided and is wholly owned by source. Informa Business Media and subsidiaries aren’t responsible for content in this information asset.