Case No. 1—Defeat of Interlocked Controls

On February 7, 2015, a 37yearold male farmer died after he was struck by the falling bucket of a skid steer loader. The incident occurred after the victim used the loader for chores and parked it in an open garage without cleaning accumulated mud, snow, and manure from the foot operated lift arm and bucket controls. When the victim shut down the machine and exited from it, he stepped on the lift arm control, moving it to the lift position. The debris then froze, locking the controls in place. After about an hour, the victim […]