TRACTOR ROLLOVER PROTECTION

Rollover Protection Structures (ROPS) are roll bars or roll cages designed for wheel and track type agricultural tractors. ROPS are designed to create a protective zone around the operator when a rollover occurs. When used with a seat belt, the ROPS will prevent the operator from being thrown from the protective zone and crushed from an overturning tractor or from equipment mounted or hooked to the tractor. There are three types of ROPS for farm tractors available: a two-post frame (with solid fold down versions), a four-post frame, and a ROPS with enclosed cab. They all serve the same function: protecting the operator in case of a tractor rollover. If the ROPS is built and designed properly, then the tractor operator that is belted with a factory designed seat belt, should be protected from most severe injuries in a tractor rollover or overturn accident.

TRACTOR ROLLOVER INJURIES

 A tractor rollover can cause the operator sever injuries including death. The weight of tractor can range from 2500 lbs up to 8000 lbs. In a typical tractor rollover in older tractor, not equipped with a ROP then the operator can be crushed as the tractor rolls onto them, causing sever abdominal injuries, head and spinal cord injuries, crushed chest, hips, pelvis and of course broken bones of the legs, arms, shoulder and back. Additionally, some operators have been pinned under the tractor causing suffocation type injuries as well. If the tractor however is equipped with a rollover device or ROPS, then a belted operator will usually be able to walk away from such injuries with only mild to moderate injuries at the most.

TRACTORS WITH DEFECTIVE ROPS.

In some cases, tractor operators have been seriously injured or killed with tractors with ROPS. In such cases, either the operator was not belted at the time of the rollover, the seatbelt came opened during the rollover or the ROPS itself was defective. Some manufacturers have not adequately tested the strength of the materials or design of the ROPS. In this picture the ROPS on this Kubota did not protect the driver and in fact endangered the operator during the tractor roll over.The two post ROPS pictured here failed to withstand the twisting forces often present in a tractor rollover. The base metal itself appears to not have been of adequate strength or design to hold of the weight of this mid-size tractor. The additional hazard of being belted (as is advised by all tractor experts) did not allow the belted operator to fall free from the rollover of this tractor. Folding ROPS, while convenient may in fact be an additional source of failure. If the folding ROPS is not completely in the locked position or the lock is defective, then the operator will meet a similar fate as this tractor rollover victim.

LEGAL ACTIONS AGAINST FARM TRACTOR MANUFACTURERS

Lawsuits against tractor manufacturers are not a new idea. In fact every major tractor maker have been involved in litigation due to a number of serious injury and death cases. Legal actions include the tractor companies failure to install, roll bars, lack of ROPS, lack of warnings, lack of seat belts and failure to design and failure to install PTO guards to prevent power-takeoff unit (PTO) entanglements. Seatbelts & ROPS have been commercially available since the early 1950's however manufacturers were very slow in making them standard equipment.Because tractor manufacturers refuse to make ROPS and seatbelts standard, thousands of operators have been killed and maimed. In fact, most tractor companies since the 1960's, offered them as a optional feature. Why should tractor safety be an option !! 

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