Date of incident: October 2016
Notice of incident number: 2016166520027
Employer: Vegetable farm

Incident summary
A farmer and three labourers were picking beets and putting them on a machine (called a beet topper) that removed the tops of the beets and then moved them into a wooden bin. A tractor was providing power to the beet topper. The farmer was inadvertently pulled into the gears of the beet topper and was fatally injured.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Worker’s clothing drawn into unguarded gears. The machine that was being used to process the beets contained gears and shafts that were unguarded. While the farmer was placing the beets onto the machine, his clothing was caught in the unguarded gears. The farmer was pulled into the machine and sustained fatal injuries.

Contributing factors

• Lack of job hazard analysis and safe work procedures. The beet topper machine had been custom-built with no direction from a professional engineer. The firm should have conducted a job hazard analysis and developed written safe work procedures.

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