Dangers of Defective Farm Equipment
Working with heavy machinery and equipment on a farm brings risk. In fact, even the tools require regular maintenance to ensure safety. However, sometimes that is not enough. Faulty parts and defective farm equipment can cause serious and even fatal injuries.
Types of Defective Farm Equipment
Most farmers understand that agriculture is dangerous. They respect and try to be as careful as possible while working. However, many are injured, and it is beyond their control. These injuries are from defective farm equipment.
These can include hay balers, plows, tractors, harvesters, shredders and other equipment.
Design Defects
When a company designs equipment without proper safety guards, shutoff switches, and protective enclosures agricultural workers are at risk. This happens all too often.
Some examples of design defects are:
- Pinch points—points at which two objects on the machine make contact, with at least one of them moving in a circle.
- Wrap points—any exposed, rotating machine component attached at one end to a piece of equipment. These can catch on clothing and limbs, pulling them into the machine.
- Freewheeling points—after a farmer turns off the equipment, farm equipment parts, such as rotary motor blades and baler flywheels, continue to rotate.
- Spring points—released springs, which cause injury.
- Hydraulic lifts and hoses—hydraulic lifts that raise and support heavy objects and assist in steering and braking equipment can fail and crush a worker. This equipment also can eject high-pressure blasts of oil that can burn eyes and skin. Leaky hydraulic hoses can emit toxic fluids that can burn.
Defective Farm Equipment Injuries
Defective farm equipment seriously injures or kills many people every year. In fact, farm fatalities are on the rise. Defective tractors, mowers, shredders, and other equipment cause debilitating and often lifelong injuries.
Some of the injuries are broken bones, crush injuries, burns, electrocution, amputation and more.
Holding Manufacturers Responsible for Defective Farm Equipment
Holding the manufacturers and sellers of defective farm equipment accountable not only helps the person injured, but also helps deter the manufacturer from continuing to use defective products. Many successful defective product lawsuits result in recalls of the defective product, which prevents injuries to others and dissuades the manufacturer from cutting corners in the future.
Defective farm equipment design could have caused your injury from a farming accident. That means: You are not at fault, and you deserve compensation! Depending on the case, a variety of parties may be held responsible for defective farm equipment injuries, which may include companies that design, sell, lease, or furnish equipment to farmers.
Manufacturers who design and distribute unsafe machinery should pay you for losses you suffer due to using their products. Contact the Farm Injury Resource Center for a free, confidential consultation.