Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Tractor Driver Killed In Overturn While Mowing, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

A 44-year-old farm owner was killed when the tractor he was driving overturned. Using a rotary mower attached to a Ford 600 tractor, the farmer was mowing an area along the gravel road leading to his home in a very remote area of the county. On the east side was a fence and on the west a brush covered embankment. At the top of the seven-foot embankment was a sloping field that had been mowed earlier in the season. The tractor, having been purchased six weeks earlier, had undergone maintenance work but was not equipped with a Roll Over Protective …

Factory Worker Entangled In Conveyor Belt Rollers, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

An 18-year-old male chop saw operator (the victim) died when his right arm became caught in the roller mechanism underneath a conveyor belt. He was pulled into the roller mechanism and suffered compressional asphyxia and blunt force injuries. The victim had left his usual work station for a break. When he did not return on time, his supervisor began to search for him. He saw the victim's legs hanging from the conveyor belt and immediately ran to him and shut off the power to the conveyor belt, radioing a guard to call for emergency medical services (EMS). He and another …

Tractor Operator Killed By Rotary Mower While Mowing Highway Right-Of-Way, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

A 23-year-old male (the victim) was killed when he fell from the tractor he was operating and was run over by the attached rotary mower. The victim had been mowing near an interstate highway on-ramp at about 1:15 pm, when his right front tractor wheel hit a concrete drainage culvert, apparently jolting him off, into the path of the mower. Although he was working with a crew, none of his co-workers witnessed the event. A passing commercial truck driver saw the victim fall, pulled over, and called emergency medical services (EMS) on his cellular phone. EMS personnel arrived within minutes …

Factory Worker Caught In Overhead Conveyor While Hanging Transformers, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Other

A 29-year-old male factory worker (the victim) died after his head became caught at the point where an overhead chain conveyor made contact with an idler, or pinwheel, that allowed the conveyor to make a 90-degree turn. The conveyor was over seven feet above the floor, but the victim, who was 6'7" tall, was standing on a platform that enabled him to reach the hooks on the conveyor to hang transformer canisters for delivery to a paint booth. No one saw the victim get caught at the nip point, but his supervisor heard him call out and immediately pushed the …

A Case Study And National Database Report Of Progressive Systemic Sclerosis And Associated Conditions, David Phillips, Barbara Phillips, David M. Mannino

David M. Mannino

We report the case of a 34-year-old white woman with a history of progressive systemic scleroderma (PSS) and diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) that may be either a rare complication of PSS or induced by D-penicillamine. The DAH progressed to hemoptysis and led to intubation for airway protection. The patient progressed to acute renal failure. Her chest x-ray revealed diffuse bilateral infiltrates. She developed pulmonary fibrosis with secondary pulmonary hypertension. She experienced a brief period of improvement of her respiratory status after steroid treatment. We also report a database of 21,442 decedents with PSS over a 15-year period from 1979 to …

Logger Fatally Injured By Falling Limb, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

A 60-year-old male logger (the victim) was killed when a falling limb struck him on the head. He had been involved in the logging industry all of his life and had been working for a small logging business for six days when the fatal incident occurred. At about 9 a.m. on the day of the incident, the owner of the company went with the victim to where he would be felling trees. The victim was not wearing any personal protective equipment (PPE). They talked for a few minutes then the owner left on the bulldozer. When he returned 20-25 minutes …

53-Year-Old Dies In Tricycle Tractor Overturn While Transporting Round Bale, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

A 53-year-old full-time farmer (the victim) was crushed to death when the tractor he was operating overturned. At 1:45 pm, the victim was moving a large round bale of hay with a hay spike mounted on the front of a tractor. The tractor was not equipped with a rollover protective structure (ROPS) or a seatbelt. The farmer, who was sharecropping, was moving rolled hay from a field to a wagon in preparation for transportation to his farm. Hydraulics were used to lift the approximately 1500-pound spiked bale, and the farmer began driving toward the wagon. He proceeded along a tobacco …

66-Year-Old Male Dies In Tractor Overturn While Mowing, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

A 66-year-old male (the victim) was killed while mowing his farm land. He was driving a Case tractor model 1212 with a front-end loader and 4-foot rotary mower attachments. The tractor had a homemade canopy attached for sun protection but it was not intended to function as a Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS). Tracks in the field show that he had made several passes and had likely worked for about three hours when the incident occurred. It was about 1 p.m. when he began mowing along the edge of the woods that bordered the field. Although the field was relatively flat, …

Farmer Run Over By Tractor, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Tractors/Logging

An 80-year-old male farmer (the victim) died when he was run over by the right rear wheel of his tractor. He had backed the tractor to the door of a shed in order to hook a tiller to it. After parking the tractor on a slight incline in front of the shed, he left it in neutral while he went inside for the tiller. The parking brake did not hold, however, and the tractor began to roll. He apparently noticed this and tried to remount the tractor, but was knocked down by the wheel and run over. To prevent similar …

Electrician Dies In 6-Foot Fall From Ladder, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Fatality Case Reports--Falls

A 51-year-old male electrician (the victim) died after falling approximately six feet to the concrete floor of a fertilizer plant. The victim had been doing electrical work while standing on an aluminum extension ladder at a switch box attached to a steel post near a rear exit of the plant. His co-worker, who was approximately 20 feet away, heard him hit the floor, but did not see him fall. The co-worker ran for help. A 911 call was placed at 8:46 am, and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel arrived in three minutes. The victim was transported to the local hospital, …

Experiencing Physical Violence During Pregnancy: Prevalence And Correlates, Vilma E. Cokkinides, Ann L. Coker

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Violence during pregnancy directly impacts the mental and physical health of pregnant women. We assessed the prevalence and correlates of physical violence around the time of pregnancy in a representative sample of 6,718 women in South Carolina. Physical violence, defined as "being physically hurt by husband or partner" or "being involved in a physical fight" was reported by 10.9% of recently pregnant women. These were correlates of violence: experiencing increased numbers of stressful life events, being unmarried, having increased parity, being on Medicaid, and having an unwanted pregnancy. Screening to identify violence in pregnancy in health care settings is vital …

Violence Against Women In Sierra Leone: Frequency And Correlates Of Intimate Partner Violence And Forced Sexual Intercourse, Ann L. Coker, Donna L. Richter

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Violence against women is a significant public health problem which impacts women, men, and children. Little is known about the frequency or correlates of violence against women in Africa. In this cross-sectional study, we found that 66.7% of 144 women surveyed in a study of AIDS knowledge, attitude, and behaviours, report being beaten by an intimate male partner and 50.7% report having ever been forced to have sexual intercourse; 76.6% of women report either forced sex or intimate partner violence. Circumcised women were most likely to report intimate partner violence and forced sexual intercourse. To improve the health of women …

Chain Saw Hazard Alert, Kentucky Injury Prevention And Research Center

Kentucky Haz Alerts--Tractors/Logging

A review of 74 cases of chain saw injuries to Kentucky farmers revealed that most occurred while the farmers were clearing fence lines. Most of the injuries occurred in the spring, from March through April, and in the fall, from October through November. As for time of day, most happened in the morning, from 8:30 to 10, and in the early afternoon, from 12 to 3.

Described below are two representative incidents, followed by recommendations for prevention of similar injuries.