Specialist Urges Safety For Swather Operation

With its whirling shafts and gathering reels, spinning belts and chains and yards of slashing sickles, the swather can be an extremely dangerous machine, according to an agricultural safety specialist at North Dakota State University

"Swathing of small grains is still an option that many growers choose for harvest," notes George Maher of the NDSU Extension Service. "With some awareness of the dangers involved and some safety practices, workers can use swathers to get the crop cut safely."

Maher notes that the three most prominent danger spots on the typical swather are:

• the power take-off shafts (for a pull-type swather). Rotating shafts are commonly used on swathers to transmit power and are not always shielded. "They should be," Maher says. An unshielded shaft on a self-propelled swather is just as dangerous as an unshielded PTO shaft. Always replace shields that have been removed from rotating shafts and other moving parts."
  
  
• the sickle bar. All those cutting edges present considerable danger to those working around the sickle bar of a swather. "Be mindful of where your fingers are when adjusting or unplugging the machine," Maher says. "Always be sure to take the PTO out of gear, stop the tractor or swather engine and put the keys in your pocket before unplugging or adjusting the swather." Always grasp a sickle bar with your hands to the rear of the cutting edges.
  
  
• the gathering reels. The reel of a swather can push a person into the cutter bar if the machine is not stopped while being unplugged or adjusted. Bumps to the head (potentially dangerous) can occur whether the reel is turning or not while the swather is being worked on. "Again, stop the equipment completely, shut it off and put the key in your pocket before doing any unplugging or adjusting," Maher says.

Swathers typically have numerous pinch points involving belts and pulleys or chains and sprockets. "All pinch points must have guards covering them," Maher says. "The speed of the belt and pulley has little to do with the degree of danger at a pinch point. Systems working at low speeds usually require a lot of tension on the belt. The tension will not allow a finger to go around the pulley without injury. High speed belt/pulley systems may not necessarily have as much tension on the belt, but the speed will not allow reaction time to pull a finger out of the pinch point once it is caught."

Also remember that riders should never be allowed on tractors or swathers, Maher says. If the rider should fall from the machine into the path of the cutter bar it would be nearly impossible to stop in time.

First aid kits and fire extinguishers should be standard equipment on swathers, Maher says. "With as many cutting edges as there are on a swather cutter bar it is essential that a first aid kit be carried with the machine. Injuries from knife or sickle sections are likely to be very deep cuts with strong possibilities of heavy bleeding. In addition to the usual contents, a good first aid kit should be well equipped with compresses and wrapping materials for treating these types of wounds. The first aid kit should also contain treatment for bee and insect stings.

Maher notes that fires can easily develop around engines, bearings and dry field conditions. The fire extinguisher should be a Class ABC, dry chemical extinguisher to handle all types of fires and materials.

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Source: George Maher, (701) 231-8288, gmaher@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu

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