National Agriculture and Food Research Organization will set on a three-year survey in fiscal 2014 to analyze risk factors behind deaths due to walking tractor accidents, in an effort to come up with safety measures.
Walking tractors come in various sizes and structures, and are used in various situations including tilling, ploughing and hilling.
The organization will analyze different causes of accidents, such as shifting into wrong gear, tractor overturning or handlebars suddenly jumping up.
Walking tractor-related fatalities occupy only a little more than 10 percent of total agricultural work-related deaths, but they occupy nearly 20 percent of all agricultural machinery-related fatalities, the largest percentage next to deaths related to farm tractors which amount to 50 percent.
Organization officials say that risk analysis of walking tractor-related accidents has been insufficient compared with farm tractor accidents, adding that they hope to clarify the risks, come up with accident prevention measures and develop safety devices.
(April 24, 2014)