A Combine harvester is crucially important machinery as they significantly help in improving the efficiency of harvesting process. Undoubtedly, the machinery has revolutionized the way of farming. Unfortunately, combine harvester machine can also be highly dangerous because of its size and heavy tools used, and need expertise and intense training to work with it safely.
For farmers who are not familiar with combine harvester, this giant agricultural machinery uses pointed or sharp, spinning parts that harvest even widest patches of crops quickly. Thus farmers who use a combine harvester should be very careful as there are chances of getting injured seriously. The Health and Safety Executive, along with Mississippi State University, completed a study looking at dozens of combine harvester accidents that occurred over a 10-year period. They were looking for trends in the causes and results of combine harvester incidents. According to the study:
As per some researchers combine harvesters are capable of causing intense or even fatal injuries while working on a farm. Thus farmers using a combine harvester have to make sure that they take every safety precaution to minimize the risk of any injuries occurring.
Why do injuries or accidents happen using a Combine Harvester?
As per the researches the experts mentioned a few general reasons why farmers get injured using combine machine. Few are written below:
- A user is pulled by the machine in case their cloth or equipment is stuck in the reel.
- A user can be pulled into the cutting machine.
- They can be harmed on coming in contact with the stripper rotor.
- Users may sustain serious injuries in case they get stuck in the discharge augers which attached to the grain tank.
- People may end up getting run over when they are behind the harvester and starts to back up.
Generally, the higher risk of any accident while using a combine harvester is when people come in contact with any moving parts of combine. As the parts of a combine spin, there can be chances that a person have a limb caught and get reeled in any moment. Such accidents could be extremely fatal if people around do not notice. As the combine harvester includes large number of moving parts there is a numberless chances for an injury to occur.
How can we minimize the risks of injury?
Accidents due to combine harvesters can have long-lasting impacts thus to prevent such injuries, everyone should remember several measures. Farmers that use a combine harvester should keep below points in mind to keep themselves and everyone safe:
- Everyone using a combine harvester should get training to make sure that they can work with it safely.
- More than one person should not ride in the combine harvester unless they have a second seat with sufficient safety measures.
- Ensure the tractor is stopped before attaching or detaching it from the machine.
- Do not get distracted with food, radios, cell phones or extra people sitting in the equipment when using it.
- Never let the children walk over farm or nearby the combine harvester when using it.
- The mirrors should be regularly clean and adjusted as per the use to minimize blind spots.
- Ensure using the horn whenever the combine harvester is backing up.
- All the routine maintenance work should be done on time as recommended by the combine harvester manufacturer.
- Be extremely careful when operating the machine on any sloping or moist ground.
