Tractor Operator Killed by Rotary Mower While Mowing Highway Right-of-Way

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 and took the victim to the local hospital and on to the airport in a nearby town for air ambulance transport to a regional trauma center, where he died at 5:03 pm. In order to prevent similar incidents, the KY FACE investigator recommends that: operators of ROPS-equipped tractors should always wear seatbelts; employers should train and require all employees to wear them, and should enforce their use; and, tractor operators should always examine the area, take into consideration environmental conditions and terrain, and make necessary adjustments to accommodate to them