Bill Furlong says rollovers are preventable
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
Bill Furlong, a farmer from Iowa City, says more farmers should consider having roll bars in their tractors.
According to Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (I-CASH), 23 farmers from Iowa died in rollovers from 2011 to 2014.
Furlong said considering the investments farmers put into their operations and machinery, installing a roll bar is a minimal cost.
He said it cost him about $1,000 to have a roll bar installed on his 1969 John Deere 4020.
“…Compared to the overall cost of farming and the possibility of losing a life, it’s a pretty infinitesimal amount,” he told the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
Furlong said farmers are living longer and there’s a mentality that suggests when an accident occurs, “that’s the way he would have wanted to go.”
A Massey Ferguson tractor with roll over protection bars installed.
Furlong, who also sits on I-CASH’s advisory board, estimates about 40 per cent of antique and older tractors remain without roll bars. He said rollovers are preventable and he is looking into programs in other states that provide funds to help farmers pay for roll bar installation.
Currently, a few states have some sort of roll bar installation rebate program.
Minnesota and New York’s programs, for example, reimburse about 70 per cent of the cost.