Centers for Agriculture Disease and Injury Research Education and Prevention Supplement

Tractor overturns are the leading cause of fatalities among agricultural workers. Although Rollover Protective Structures (ROPS) are the single-most effective way to prevent injury and death from tractor overturns, an estimated 2.4 million farm tractors in the U.S. lack a ROPS and should be retrofitted. Because RapS vary by tractor make and model, are frequently unavailable locally, and are not commonly advertised, and retrofitting is generally voluntary, the time and effort required to determine ROPS availability becomes a key barrier to retrofitting. This education/translation project will contribute to public health and ocupational safety by eliminating this barrier, providing information needed for smart decision-making by farmers. It will do so by comprehensively updating, redesigning, and publicizing the online "Guide to Agricultural Tractor Rollover Protective Structures", the sole comprehensive guide for farmers seeking information on retrofit ROPS. Published in 1997 by the National Farm Medicine Center, the existing guide will be updated with the latest information on RapS manufacturers/suppliers (hereafter "suppliers"), tractor models for which RapS are available, any necessary identification criteria, and pricing; given a user-friendly comprehensive search engine presently lacking; and widely publicized through numerous channels. ROPS information will be collected through contact with ROPS suppliers; new suppliers will be identified. Information to assist users in model identification will be provided for tractor models where mergers and brand changes have resulted in multiple or confusing names. Step-by-step purchase procedures for each ROPS supplier will be provided. A key improvement will be the identification of two key types of tractors: (a) the increasingly popular gray market used tractors (imported without manufacturer authorization) being sold in the U.S., including those for which ROPS are not currently available; and (b) tractors that were sold new with ROPS as standard or optional equipment but no longer have a RapS available, meaning a ROPS design exists but is unused. These tractors may not have been considered by RapS suppliers, so lists of these tractors will be given to suppliers to encourage them to use existing designs or develop new designs for these tractors; anticipated resulting improvements in ROPS availability will be incorporated into the Guide. Following widespread publicity, and evaluation, the result will be unprecedented availability of ROPS retrofitting information.