A recent article from the Accident Research Center in Melbourne, Australia discusses the importance of retrofitting a safer surface to tractor access platforms. Interviews and inspections were conducted to gather information regarding the advantages and disadvantages of retrofitting and to help reduce the risk of serious injuries associated with farmers mounting and dismounting the tractors.

The research center set up a scoring system from 1-10 measuring the ease of getting on or off the tractors before and after the platforms were retrofitted. The average post-retrofit score was 6.3 and the average pre-retrofit score was 0.9.  Five tractors received a post-retrofit score of 8.0 and higher.  The newly retrofitted platforms had little effect on tractor operations and substantially improved the ease of access.

While implementing a safer platform, you may want to add slip resistance to the surface.  This will give farmers a sure-footed step while entering and exiting the tractors.  SlipNOT® Metal Safety Flooring manufactures an all metal non-slip coating which is offered in different grades of slip resistance and has been used on other truck access platforms.  For more information on SlipNOT® please contact us at (313) 923-0400 or info@slipnot.com.

L. Day, G. Rechnitzer.“Safe Tractor Access Platforms: From Guidance Material to Implementation”. Monash University, August, 2004. http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/reports/papers/jash5122.pdf

 

Filed under: Weather Safety by Beth Faraci Social tagging: access platforms