Minnesota Law Aims to Decrease Tractor Rollovers

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton recently signed off on legislation that creates a program to help farmers add rollover protection to aging machines. Passage of the law gives Minnesota the best-funded tractor safety plan in the United States.

And, it is one of many steps toward reducing farm accidents in the state.

In response to a Star Tribune series on farm safety, state lawmakers also approved legislation that requires the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to study farm safety programs in other states and report back by Feb. 1, 2017 on ideas that could be implemented in Minnesota.

The newspaper found that tractor accidents were the No. 1 cause of death on farms in the U.S., accounting for more than 1,700 fatalities among farmworkers since 2003.

In Minnesota, where 210 farmworkers were killed in the past decade, the majority of fatal tractor accidents occurred on older machines that lacked rollover protection, records showed.

The best way to avoid catastrophe is to install a roll bar, but most farmers have resisted calls to add the equipment, often citing the cost of the upgrade. It typically costs about $900 to add the gear, but some kits are more than twice as expensive.

Under Minnesota’s program, farmers will be reimbursed for 70 percent of the cost of adding rollover protection, with that figure increasing as needed to cap a farmer’s out-of-pocket costs at $500 per tractor. Any tractor built before 1987—or shortly after manufacturers began voluntarily including rollover protection—is eligible for help.

Farmers will participate voluntarily.

In addition to funds allocated to the state’s agriculture department, the program also received contributions from corporations, which is what tipped the scales and made it the best-funded program among the seven states that have them.

Still, the allocated funds won’t come close to covering the need. State officials estimate that there are more than 80,000 vintage tractors that lack roll bars or covered cabs in Minnesota, which means it would take about 300 years at current funding levels to upgrade the tractors.

When used with a seat belt, roll bars are 99 percent effective in preventing death or serious injury in a tractor overturn, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Source: Star-Tribune