It's something that happens all too often, farm-related accidents. On Friday, we told you about a 3-year-old boy who died after getting run over by a skid steer near Athens. It's accidents like this, that have experts urging you to stay safe out in those farm fields.
A medical expert at Aspirus Wausau Hospital says a lot of these accidents occur because of poor decisions, like taking off safety equipment, or choosing not to follow recommended safety guidelines for farm machinery. "We can see a wide variety of injuries, from a simple splinters, to cuts and bruises, to very severe injuries where someone may be thrown from an animal, kicked by an animal, or entrapped by a piece of machinery, leg entrapment in an auger," says Jason Keffeler.
So what can you do to protect yourself? He says follow basic safety guidelines, like wearing a seatbelt or helmet, and if you have chidlren on the farm, make sure you put rules in place to protect them.
Over the past decade, farm equipment has come a long way. Tractors get faster and bigger and have safety features to help keep you safe. An employee with Vanderloop Equipment, Inc. in Marathon says tractors come with a number of features nowadays, like more lighting, stability control, and technology features like GPS, and he says it's not really possible to turn them off.
Brett Folkedahl says, "Nowadays, it isn't possible, nowadays ,they've got it all computerized, so you know it's very hard for them to do something like that."
He says operators tend to look at the tractor itself when using it, but you should also look at your surroundings.
