basic tractor safety-your thoughts

i noticed there wasn't a category for this. would anyone share what they would consider the basic fundamentals of working with tractors and specific examples? like my ford 850, like most tractors, that dang pto is not going to stop for anything. what are your personal rules for clothing and lock out tag out and good overall safety procedures,,, dogs,, loaning out your tractor to people.

name the most comfortable steel toed shoes/boots available?

i know some are going to say "it just common sense" but let's say you have a teenage son or grandson and you wanted to teach them how to use the tractor safely as they earned money mowing acreages? where to start

I used to tell my son:the pto is turned
off before your @$$ leaves the seat.

I don't loan any tractors out that have a moving PTO.

A lot of things are spelled out in the operator's manual of a tractor. Have the young person start there and they can go at
their own pace. One thing that never works is an impatient elder lecturing to an impatient kid. If you are afraid that the young
person in question will NOT carefully read the operator's manual then I would start by lecturing on how to handle the tractor when
other people plus pets are present. Any 4H tractor safety classes offered where you live? You can try to foolproof tractor
operation but that seldom happens in real life. Kids will make errors so it is important that you oversee things for a while until
you are comfortable with what you are seeing from the new operator.

No such thing as a lockout tag on a tractor.The Ford's have a screw on cap for for the Pto.Put it on whenever the PTO is not in use. I don't loan out my tractors.

My father used an old jacket. He hooked up an implement to the PTO, He told me that this jacket represents me. He stood back and tossed the Jacket at the running PTO. This is what happens to you if you get too close when it is running,or about to be running. Got my attention. I always start a tractor sitting in the seat. NUF SAID! CM

I always figured the safest thing to tell a beginner is don't get off the tractor or out of the seat
when its running. I only loan a tractor out if I'm the operator. The rate is anywhere from 0-100
bucks per hour depending on what I'm doing with the tractor and how well I know you.

My son was a big boy for his age. I let him mow the lawn when he was young.
I told him the same thing, when using an old school lawn mower that has zero safety switches. Don't get off the mower until everything stops.
Both my kids learned how to drive using riding mowers at a young age.
I will ask, do you kids have seat time on a riding mower?
Today's riders are almost idiot proof. Old tractors are not.
I consider old tractors, which I own 2, death machines.
No ROP, no seat belts. Annually I hear on local news where an old fart gets killed using his antique tractor.
They get ran over, they flip the tractor.

Would I let a grandson use my antique tractors? HECK NO.
Would I let my grandson mow with my riding mowers? Yes.
Would I trust my grandson to use my new Kubota? NO WAY,
Grandson doesn't have any seat time on a riding mower.

Keep in mind any damage your kids cause will cost you.
Are you planning on having liability insurance on both your kids and personal property they damage??

...and here in Geo's reply is why the kids these days are "worthless" and "don't know anything" and "do nothing but play video games."

What else are they going to do, when their elders won't let them help out around the place, learn to run the machinery, learn to work on things, because it's "TOO DANGEROUS???"

"Papa's working, little Billy. Go inside where it's safe." What do you think they're going to do when they get inside, read the service manual? NO! They're going to play video games, and they're going to grow up knowing nothing.

Its almost impossible to go too slow.
Never get in a pinch point.

far as i am concerned get them on the tractor once they can walk. its all learning from then on.

Safety is usually an afterthought to younger people and when one has a number of years of operating machinery and their share of
close calls/lessons learned the hard way they will take things more seriously. Some things I would relay along with the story of a
person I know who had the corresponding accident - do not get near a pto shaft when pto is engaged or you could get tangled up
(happened to a friend who was entangled and ended up with a broken hip and several other injuries), do not get hands,feet etc near
any machinery that is in gear or you could be injured (neighbor got hand bit by corn picker, friend of my dad got both legs into a
silage blower kicking at bridged silage in a wagon) , Be careful on slopes (my grandfather tipped over a tractor) , do not start
tractor by jumping starter while on the ground , or try to slightly move a hand clutch tractor while on the ground ( neighbor ran
himself over jumping starter , aquaintance ran himself over and was killed while trying to move a hand clutch JD to hook something
up.). And several more , I agree just lecturing a young person will not be real effective. I would also add that newer tractors
with more safety features can be compared to older tractors without them and that is another way to explain safety practices. All
of the examples I mention were operators of 55 years old or older.

I agree with your loaning policy 100 per cent.

Brings back memories of old school Ford 555-B backhoe that was one of the cleanest trade-ins that I've ever seen. It was nearly a new
backhoe. We sent it out to rent while a customer's machine was in being repaired. A week goes by and all's well. One day we get a phone call
saying there's something faulty on the machine. I go out to see what's going on. It appears that this company is removing sections of hi-way
to replace them. The operator left the reverser lever on forward and gearshift in gear. He turned the seat around to operate the backhoe . It
wasn't running fast enough to work well.. Well he reaches around to bump up the hand throttle, The backhoe lurches forward and pins a laborer
against the removed section in front of him. One leg got severed and the other was hanging by a thread.. The operator was not sued , the
renting company wasn't sued due to owner paying operator and victim. So they went to the deepest pockets , Renting dealership and Ford New
Holland had to pay damages.. I'm thinking why ? It appears that the backhoe should have been equipped with a safety switch to disconnect the
transmission when the seat is turned.. Back in those days that was unheard of. Nobody had that feature.. It all boils down to common sense.
Whether common sense is in you or if it's taught to you. , it needs to be there. I still feel that the legal system sucks in that respect. In
short... Common sense ! Use it or loose it.

One thing I've tried to do, after years and years of the same old Farmalls, whenever I go out to the tractor, is
STOP!!!!! LOOK at what you're about to do, don't assume anything. LOOK at everything, all levers, all equipment, etc.

I don't know if it is still active but; Our county extension service, in conjunction with our local community college, has had a program each
spring for youth. They spend classroom time learning about tractor and equipment safety, and then are taken out and given hands on and seat
time on tractors.

Sure, everyone has their words of wisdom that they try to convince themselves that they have, do, or will impart to a child. When it comes down to it though, kids are learning from their parents way before the lessons start. You know that you have taught your kids to speed, run stop signs, ignore pedestrians stepping onto cross walks, fail to yield, fail to let another driver merge in, talk or text on the phone, and this is only simple every day driving a car, LOL.

100 percent correct. it's time the old farts start allowing children to work at a young age
and forget the GOV bs that you can't use child labor. My second oldest girl drove truck and
tractor at 8-10 years old. she is now 23 and self employed

6 ways common ways to die...or not.
1 ALWAYS start the tractor from on the seat! Never from the ground.
2 NEVER let children/people ride on your tractor or in your lap!
3 Never get off the tractor with the pto turned on, or the motor running! NEVER approach a running pto shaft!
4 Only pull from the 3pt or the drawbar!!!! Never put a chain around an axle or top link!
5 Only go vertically up and down hills. If hill is steep, you must back up it and go forwards down it. Never go at an angle on hill on incline due to roll over.
6 When shredding, never let anyone near the area of work due to rocks and objects being thrown. Children like to run behind the tractor and they should never be permitted to be in the work area or shred area. Too many animals and children have been run over or hurt by flyin objects.


PLus many more, but I always start out by these 6 ways to die when selling tractors.

(quoted from post at 11:12:35 01/05/22) 6 ways common ways to die...or not.
1 ALWAYS start the tractor from on the seat! Never from the ground.
2 NEVER let children/people ride on your tractor or in your lap!
3 Never get off the tractor with the pto turned on, or the motor running! NEVER approach a running pto shaft!
4 Only pull from the 3pt or the drawbar!!!! Never put a chain around an axle or top link!
5 Only go vertically up and down hills. If hill is steep, you must back up it and go forwards down it. Never go at an angle on hill on incline due to roll over.
6 When shredding, never let anyone near the area of work due to rocks and objects being thrown. Children like to run behind the tractor and they should never be permitted to be in the work area or shred area. Too many animals and children have been run over or hurt by flyin objects.


PLus many more, but I always start out by these 6 ways to die when selling tractors.

Click to expand...

could you maybe share the "many more" i, for one, would appreciate it. my uncle in neb violate rule 2 a few times with me. and it was an old tractor, not like the cool new ones

At the old IH dealer the owner made it clear that any one
who left an implement raised or a loader up without a
safety bar would be fired. Period. We did often have kids
playing in the equipment yard. I don't know if he had a
bad accident at some time but it is still good practice.

I remember reading these cartoons in my IH300u owner's manual when I was 6-7yrs old. But dad had me with him from when I could walk, (and I wanted to help!) and while not the most safety conscious man, he did always preach, Be careful; Watch what you are doing, and he let us do chores we could handle. Mark.

I hung onto dads coverall leg while riding along picking up rocks before I was school age. No fenders on the farMall 300.

Surviving that, I was pretty familiar with the ins and outs of tractor operation by the time I started plowing when I was 8.

Basically go slow, think things through, and need to gain experience.

Modern cab tractors are made for dumb people; running the 1960s stuff takes a smart kid with some world experience to know he or she can get hurt and to be mindful
of what is going on around them.

Paul

I shut pto off before I dismount
tractor. When working on tractor, I
make it in-operational if I leave. I
don't let my dog drive it. I don't
loan it out. If tractor goes, I go
with it in the operators seat if I
hire my tractor out. My tractor
doesn't seem to care what I wear. So
far, it hasn't complained.

Well if your working on a non running tractor it is hard to do mot of that. I about 99% of the time have to start them standing on the ground because they don't run in the first place. You start by making sure they are out of gear and when you can block the clutch pedal down. I NEVER park a tractor in gear

.
Walt Duncans safety message

but I sell tractors to newbys... SO.. I tell them... NEVER start a tractor from the ground. We have folks around here get runned over every couple of years or so. Some live, some dont. Guy at tire shop last year had his international run over him, but he got up and walked away after a quick check at the emergency room. So.. not a good practice to start from ground. Lots of safety switches have been bypassed. And one careless moment, when you thought it was out of gear, or your neighbors kids climbed on it or the cat bumped it.......even riding lawn mowers have seat switches now. (yes we all still do it)

When I get off a tractor, running or not, its left in neutral with the brake set. A habit I started when my grandsons
would occasionally forget the hand clutch is not something you pull yourself up with.

Well that is the difference in one selling and one having to get one up and running again

Some of you guys have never run some of the equipment that is on a farm from some of the rules you claim to obey. I would never would have got feed ground 40 years ago, if I had to leave the PTO off, when I got off the tractor. Since I had to open the slide to the bin for the corn and oats to run into it. I would never have blown any hay into the barn over the lase 50 years either. Since I had to run the self unloading wagon clutch on the side of the wagon from the tractor seat.
I suppose you never tramped a plow to get the trash to go through it while moving either. It would be awful cold setting on the tractor while the auger ran empty from the bin since I would not be able to open the slide over the auger in the bin by these rules. Now Yes there are times when you just have to consider the rules and the practicality to them. I have probably violated most of the ones you guys all think are so sacred though this is where the common sense comes in. If you are going to get off the tractor while PTO is on A front dismount tractor away from the PTO would be a much safer option to use if you have it. We used to use the buzz saw with no guard on it back when I was a kid and never got hurt. I guess this is why I tend to not heed some of the safety ideas that are on most lists or guards. I still have 10 working fingers and all toes with both hands and feet. Though by some I am probably considered lucky.
So I guess I don't have much for rules or safety deals around equipment and more rely on common sense. If you stick your hand in the fan expect to have any part of it cut off. There are some things I do require when machinery is going to be in motion and that is you can be seen by the operator. Backing is one of the big things I complain about for being out of site. My wife and I use our phones to talk when backing into sheds up to augers and other things like that you can hear them and they can be seen. You can't hear most things within the cab on some of the newer ones. Just to quite. Backing trucks by mirror into buildings is like looking into a black hole during the day so guides need to be where they can be seen out in front. You can see wheter it will clear to get started in and while coming back till it gets close then stop or add a person that can be seen by the first guide or by the driver till it gets back to the position it needs to be. Yup takes more people but prevents some of the other problems that can cost lots of money not to mention people getting hurt.