Woman loses arm to PTO

   / Woman loses arm to PTO #1  

jamestaylor72

Silver Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2007
Messages
111
Location
Ashtabula, Ohio
Tractor
John Deere 4120
Hey all,,, this story was in todays paper, and I thought I'd share it with the tractor community here on TBN. I'm new to the cut and paste thing,, so hopefully you'll be able to read the article.



Harpersfield woman loses arm in farm accident


MARGIE TRAX PAGE
Star Beacon


HARPERSFIELD TOWNSHIP - - A woman lost an arm to a piece of farm machinery Monday morning after her sleeve was caught by the arm of a tractor's power take-off.


Alice Vervais, owner of Shimandle Farm, 6095 Route 307, was preparing an industrial insecticide sprayer to treat the farm's crop of grapes when the power take-off grabbed the sleeve of her T-shirt and severed her arm at the shoulder, neighbor and tenant Alice Cole said.

A power take-off (PTO) is a splined driveshaft, usually on a tractor or truck, which draws energy from a tractor's engine to provide power to an attachment or separate machine, like an insecticide sprayer.

Cole said Vervais was conscious and talking when Northwest Ambulance District paramedics arrived on the scene.

"Thank God her brother was with her. They tied up the wound fast, so she didn't lose a lot of blood," Cole said. "We were all thankful to hear her talking."

The Harpersfield Volunteer Fire Department arrived on scene shortly after Vervais was transported by ambulance to UH-Geneva Medical Center. She then was transferred by medical helicopter to Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center, Cole said.

One firefighter said he is afraid doctors will not be able to reattach Vervais' arm because of the severity of the wound and the condition of the detached arm.

Cole shares that fear.

"(The arm) was in bad shape, and the wound at (Vervais') shoulder was shredded and torn up. I don't know how the doctors would be able to reattach (the arm)," she said.

The National Safety Council Web site reports a power take-off turning at 540 revolutions per minute easily can entangle 5 to 7 feet of clothing per second.

"When a piece of clothing, which can be as small as a single thread, touches a spinning part, it can be pulled around the part. The clothing and the person wearing it are pulled into the shaft, often resulting in (a) loss of limb or death," the NSC Web site reports.

"Some implements do use plastic guards to try to keep a person from becoming entangled in a PTO shaft, but even with guards, people need to exercise caution around PTO shafts when they are plugged into a tractor," the report reads.
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO #2  
That's sad to hear, but it was an avoidable accident. No one should be around a pto shaft when the pto is engaged or still moving.
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO
  • Thread Starter
#3  
lug nut said:
That's sad to hear, but it was an avoidable accident. No one should be around a pto shaft when the pto is engaged or still moving.


Yeah,, it is sad,, but surely a wake up call to really keep safety in mind when working with our beloved tractors !!
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO #4  
Yet another unpleasant reminder... SAFETY FIRST
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO #5  
Wow!!!!!!!!! This is the 3rd woman is a month I've read about on this forum. In 6 years, I don't think I've read of more then one or two women killed or injured by ag equipment (the last was a woman scalped by a post hole digger...that's been two years ago, or more). Now...three, in a fairly short time span!

She's lucky she's not dead.
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO
  • Thread Starter
#6  
RoyJackson said:
Wow!!!!!!!!! This is the 3rd woman is a month I've read about on this forum. In 6 years, I don't think I've read of more then one or two women killed or injured by ag equipment (the last was a woman scalped by a post hole digger...that's been two years ago, or more). Now...three, in a fairly short time span!

She's lucky she's not dead.

Ya know,,, at least speaking for myself, as a fairly new tractor owner,,, I guess it's kinda hard to "realize" just how much damage that "little" shaft coming out of the back of my tractor is really capable of. I mean before I bought my tractor, and started reading the post's here on TBN from the more experienced folks,, heck,, I'd never have realized how deadly a simple PTO shaft could have been !!!! I guess it's just the reality of how fast something tragic like this can happen,, when you least expect it. I saw it posted,,,, or said somewhere here before regarding stickers that read " this tractor would love to kill you" given the chance,,, or something to that regard. How true that statement is !! :eek:
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO #7  
jamestaylor72 said:
Ya know,,, at least speaking for myself, as a fairly new tractor owner,,, I guess it's kinda hard to "realize" just how much damage that "little" shaft coming out of the back of my tractor is really capable of. I mean before I bought my tractor, and started reading the post's here on TBN from the more experienced folks,, heck,, I'd never have realized how deadly a simple PTO shaft could have been !!!!

The Safety Forum is (IMHO) the most important forum on TBN.
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO
  • Thread Starter
#8  
RoyJackson said:
The Safety Forum is (IMHO) the most important forum on TBN.


I believe your right Mr. Jackson !!!!
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO #9  
I will not get off the tractor seat until the PTO has stopped turning and the tractor engine is OFF.

I've seen too many pictures of those who got caught in a shaft to ever consider going near one when the engine is running or the shaft is still turning.

Bill Tolle
 
   / Woman loses arm to PTO #10  
Sad to hear ....I have seen 3 deaths as a custom operator /farmer .
1 from a large truck pinning a woman to a hopper when backing up ,My neighbours brother fell into a feed mixer when trying to kick a blockage clear , And the most disturbing one was when i was working on a large custom potato harvesting outfit running two harvesters at 3 AM my buddy would not answer his CB radio so i drove over to his machine and his machine was running and he was no-where to be seen ,He had tried to kick a blockege free while the machine was running ,And we all do this many times a day but this hits home when it's your partner ,needless to say we all had to take 2 weeks off work and don't do it anymore
but what annoys me is police tried to involve trading standards and health and safetey and blame poor maintenance of machinery , These were brand new machines ,The guy knew what he was doing ( 40 years old and been doing the job for 20 years) You dont need to be a novice ?
 

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