Hay-baling accidents rising in Cache

LOGAN — Cache County farming operations have seen an increase in accidents related to hay-baling equipment this summer, something some say is a result of a lack of training.

Logan Regional Hospital's emergency room statistics show eight hay-baling accidents so far this year. The accidents ranged from minor injuries to more serious problems, including back injury, fractured arms and one paralysis.

Only one accident was reported throughout the 2004 haying season, emergency room director Brek Rustin said.

"Within about a month we've seen all of these injuries. We started seeing them at the first cut of hay," Rustin said.

Physician Brett Porter says the injuries are a direct result of inadequate equipment, insufficient worker experience and a lack of training. Porter also sees technology advances in farming equipment that produce larger, heavier hay bales as large part of the problem.

The larger bales can weigh up to one ton, heavier than the traditional 80-pound bales. The larger bales save time because they can be maneuvered by farm equipment instead of by brute strength, and that lessens the demand for extra farm help, Utah State University Extension coordinator Clark Israelson said.

However, the machinery has proven to be a contributing factor to the increased number of injuries, according to farmers and doctors.

"The biggest problem is folks are trying to move it (the bales) with machinery that isn't adequately designed," Israelson said. "Or they are trying to move more bales than the equipment is designed to move."

Porter and Israelson believe precautions can be taken that increase safety, including adding cages around those operating baling tractors. Utah State University's Extension Office and the Utah Farm Bureau also offer safety classes several times a year, Israelson said.

"Folks tell us they help," Israelson said. "If nothing else, it raises the level of awareness at how quickly someone could be injured or killed while working around farm machinery."

Porter believes injuries may decrease over time when people become more familiar with the equipment and as manufacturers improve and add safety features. Simple awareness of the potential for injury should also help, he says.

"As long as the message is out, we can spare people from injuries that really are preventable," Porter said.