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Seatbelts in tractors/combines for good reason

A farm safety specialist says farmers might not realize how much seatbelts matter to their safety, “I’m making a pitch that they start using those seatbelts that come with their tractors.” Rob Mastick with American Family Insurance says “the reason is, you might break an axle in the field and if you don’t have it on, you might get bounced pretty badly” but out on the road if the farmer hits a soft shoulder at 25 to 30 miles an hour, or someone runs into THEM, that can result in significant injuries, “I’ve been doing this for about 30 years and I ask every farmer the question, ‘Do you use the seatbelts that are on there?’; and I have never one time got an answer ‘yes.’” And, he tells Brownfield, wearing seatbelts in tractors and combines reduces potential injuries out in the field during harvest or any time.

He says, too often, farmers take short cuts when they are tired, “An example of those shortcuts might be, I have to fix a belt on an unloading auger and I don’t get the guard back on. It might be as simple as, I have to lift this 30-to-40 pound object and I don’t walk right up to it and use good technique just because I’m not fully paying attention due to perhaps being tired from not as much sleep as I might need, just because I’m not fully paying attention.”

 

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