Developing a Smart ROPS Decision-Making Guide
The use of ROPS (roll bars) and seatbelts on tractors has been shown to be 98 percent effective in preventing tractor-overturn injuries and deaths (Cole et al, 2006). Nevertheless, approximately half of all agricultural tractors currently in use in the United States lack ROPS. In some areas, the prevalence of unprotected tractors is even higher. Lack of information about the availability of ROPS for specific makes and models of tractors poses a major barrier to farmers who might wish to make their tractors safer. Not knowing what companies supply retrofit ROPS, what ROPS are available for which tractors, and how to obtain these protective structures either prevents, or is a powerful disincentive to, farmers from locating and installing ROPS on their tractors. This information barrier also prevents owners from retrofitting ROPS on the increasing number of “gray market” tractors -- that is, tractors imported without manufacturer authorization -- entering the United States, particularly compact models manufactured and used in Japan. Insufficient information about ROPS availability is likewise a barrier to equipment dealers in retrofitting ROPS on customers’ tractors or on tractors for resale.
To meet the needs of agricultural stakeholders and to enable them to make wise decisions about ROPS retrofitting, Principal Investigator Mark Purschwitz, PhD, is leading this project to collect and assemble existing information on ROPS availability, by tractor make and model, into a user-friendly information resource. The primary product of Developing a Smart ROPS Decision-Making Guide will be a new, comprehensive, online guide with full search capability that will provide any tractor owner, equipment dealer or technician with the ability to determine the availability, source, and acquisition procedures for retrofit ROPS for any domestic or imported agricultural tractor in the U.S. for which a retrofit ROPS is available. The new and expanded guide also will enable users to determine when a retrofit ROPS is not available for any particular tractor make and model of interest.
An online guide previously developed by Dr. Purschwitz and colleagues is available through the National Farm Medicine Center.
This project is supported by CDC/NIOSH Cooperative Agreement 3 U50-OH007547-07S1.
For more information contact the Principal Investigator: Mark Purschwitz, PhD Associate Extension Professor University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Department of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering Room 104 C.E. Barnhart Building University of Kentucky 40546-0276 .