A Missouri man was killed in a workplace accident on a farm during the morning of Monday, February 26, 2018. The incident highlights the dangers that the farming community – one of the strongest in the state of Missouri – faces on a daily basis, and the need for strong workers’ compensation laws.
Tractor Accident Kills Farmer in Northern Missouri
The incident happened on a farm just north of the town of Pattonsburg, Missouri, just over 50 miles to the northeast of the city of St. Joseph.
64-year-old Victor Morgan, a native of nearby McFall, Missouri, was doing farm work while on private property off of Highway 69. While loading a bale of hay on a tractor, the tractor tipped over and rolled down an embankment. The tractor came to a rest on top of Morgan, who was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
According to the initial reports of the incident, the tractor tipped from having too much weight on its front end.
Farming Accidents are Disturbingly Common
Out of all of the jobs in the United States, farming remains one of the most dangerous. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 401 farm workers died from a work-related injury in 2015. This resulted in a fatality rate of 19.2 people for every 100,000 workers, one of the worst in the country. Every day, another 100 farm workers suffer personal injuries that are bad enough that they need to miss work.
Tractor Accidents Remain a Leading Cause of Death
In part because of their prevalence in the fields, tractors are one of the leading causes of injuries and deaths in agricultural accidents. In fact, figures by the National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative show that around 130 of the fatal agricultural injuries – around one out of every three fatalities – were caused by tractors.
Most Injuries from Tractor Rollover Accidents are Not the Victim’s Fault
To make tractor accidents even worse, they are highly preventable when they happen after a rollover. Rollover protective structures exist for tractors, and are effective at keeping workers safe. However, only 59% of the tractors used in the U.S. were equipped with these safety features in 2012, despite being low cost fixes.
The ease with which they can be prevented, together with the danger of a tractor rollover accident, make injuries that result from these accidents entirely preventable.
Workers’ Compensation Attorneys at the Smith Law Office in St. Joseph
Farm work is grueling and dangerous. Just because you chose to sign up for it, though, does not strip you of your rights to get compensated for your injuries, if you were not the one who caused them.
The workers’ compensation attorneys at the Smith Law Office in St. Joseph represent injured workers across western Missouri. If you have been hurt while on the clock, contact them online or call their law office at (816) 875-9373 for the legal help you need to get the compensation you deserve.