Hay Farming

NarrativeAt 11:11 p.m. on April 29, 2019, two employees, a mechanic and an operator, were repairing a fluid leak on a hydraulic cylinder hose of the magazine clamp elevator located on the output product handling system of the Hunterwood Press. The clamp elevator is actuated by a vertical cylinder and was in the up position. The clamp was loaded with a large bale of hay which weighs approximately 890 pounds. The mechanic went under the load and clamp to replace a hydraulic seal on the hydraulic hose. After loosening the hydraulic hose fitting, hydraulic fluid was released causing the vertical cylinder to lose pressure dropping the clamp and load on the employee, which killed him.

NarrativeAt 1:00 p.m. on November 20, 2018, Employee #1 and Employee #2 were filling in the irrigation pivot tire tracks left in the alfalfa field using a John Deere 4495 agricultural tractor and belly dump trailer to fill in the wheel tracks. The employees connected a belly dump trailer to the John Deere tractor, and Employee #1 drove the tractor and trailer to the soil pile. Employee #2 loaded the belly dump trailer. Employee #1 drove the tractor and trailer into the alfalfa field, situated the trailer over the irrigation pivot tire tracks, and opened the doors to the trailer, allowing soil to pour out of the trailer into the tire tracks. The soil was clogged inside the trailer. The doors of the belly dump trailer would not move. It was almost lunch time, so Employee #2 drove the tractor back to the shop. Employee #1 walked between the back of the tractor and the trailer and Employee #2 was still unable to see Employee #1. Employee #2 drove approximately thirty feet when he looked back and saw Employee #1 lying face down in the first set of tire tracks. Employee #1 was fatally injured when he was run over by the rear tires of the loaded belly dump trailer, weighing approximately 28,000 lbs.

NarrativeAt 7:57 a.m. on July 29, 2017, an employee was operating a tractor towing a baler in an alfalfa field. The employee was driving the equipment to the bottom of the field to conduct repair work to the baler and two coworkers noted that the equipment was traveling faster than normal operating speed. The employee jumped from the tractor and was struck by the equipment. The employee was killed.