Nebraska Farm Accident Lawyers

Farming is dangerous. It always has been. So are livestock operations. We have handled agricultural death and fatalities and agricultural injury cases of all kinds in Omaha, Nebraska and across the country.

Big equipment. Big animals. Lots of movement. Many things to distract attention. All these things inevitably act in combination to create risks to those engaged in agriculture.

Yet, a review of basic statistics is always helpful:

1. 3 million people work on 2 million farms and ranches.
2. 1,300 lives are lost annually in preventable farm accidents.
3. 120,000 injuries occur on the farm annually. Many are preventable.
4. Farm tractor overturns account for 44% of all tractor fatalities.
5. Fruit farms have the highest work injury rate (233 per million hours).

What Are the Contributing Factors to Farming Accidents?

Death comes to farm and ranch workers at a rate that exceeds the average for all private sector industries, and agriculture is more dangerous "by a mile." Studies report that the fatality rate in agriculture is 23.9 per 100,000 full-time workers. This makes farming more than 5 times as dangerous as other industries.

Risks are everywhere: machines, chemicals, pesticides, carcinogens, heavy objects, thousands of moving parts. The number of factors contributing to accidents is as varied as the kinds of accidents themselves.

These contributing factors have been widely recognized:

• Lack of emergency preparedness - Once an accident occurs, the time to skilled care may be extraordinarily long and the distance considerable.
• Aging farm population - The highest injury rate on farms is among children under 15 and adults over 65, the farm belt is graying and this is an enhanced risk.
• Farm equipment often lacks such basic safety protection as seat belts and roll bars - Guards and shields have improved considerably. Yet, safety devices could prevent up to 40% of all injuries.
• Farm accidents tend to involve machines and equipment.
• On the farm accident prevention is not as commonly stressed in an organized way as in factories - Farms seldom have such basic things as: postings concerning accident-free days, rewards for accident-free work and community recognition for avoiding accidents.
• Farm accidents claim as many as 300 children's lives per year.
• Vehicular farm equipment, such as tractors, can often be contributing factors in farming accidents - In 2013, there were 62 vehicular farm equipment accidents in Nebraska. 4 of these accidents were fatal and 13 resulted in injury.

These steps and education can be especially helpful in preventing farm accidents and injuries:

1. Care should be taken to read and follow manuals, and always, always assure that labels are adhered to. Warnings, decals and emblems should be kept in place, unobstructed and intact. Inspection for the condition of these warnings should be a routine part of equipment inspection.
2. Employees and family members should meet to access safety hazards, discuss accident situations and outline emergency procedures. Organized teaching of safety practices is important.
3. Seat belts should be used on equipment where is in place. Roll over protection, guards, and shields should not be removed.
4. Haste should not be permitted to interfere with good judgment. A rush to unplug a plugged object, move grain not flowing in a grain bin, or enter into an enclosed structure can have lethal consequences.

Some say that good investigation and reporting techniques are key management tools and accident protection. The Farm Safety Association provides free seminars, good training materials, and excellent online resources. Nearly every state offers publications concerning farm safety.

What Do You Do When a Farm Accident Happens?

Accidents do happen. When they do, devastating consequences can befall the injured party and all persons involved in the farming enterprise. Often, legal assistance can help with the financial consequences of injury.

Likely areas suggesting the need for early intervention with skilled counsel well-versed in farm matters include:

• Health insurance coverage issues;
• Disability and benefits notification, disputes and interaction to assure that all available resources are furnished;
• Evidence assembly and protection. This is vital. Often, evidence critical to the prosecution of a case for personal injuries or death has a short transitional life. Unless care is taken to collect, preserve and protect the evidence promptly, it can get away.
• Notifications must be given. When a machine is involved in an injury, it is essential that timely notice of the injury be given to preserve some legal theories. Notifications may be needed for government agencies, vendors and public officials who are in a position to offer investigative assistance.
• Meet deadlines. Statutes of limitations vary from state to state. As little as one year may be available to pursue some forms of remedy in some states, while longer periods may apply in others.

Early case analysis and settlement demand transmission can force insurance companies to pay interest, adjust claims more fairly, and provide help more quickly.

Accidents Caused by Farming Machinery

An estimated 500 to 600 individuals are killed in these types of accidents each year and according to the Department of Labor, tractor accidents cause more fatalities on farms than any other factor. Tractor accidents can also be caused by something called power take off (PTO) which causes entanglement in the machine's moving parts. Any loose item can become caught in the tractor which typically results in severe injuries and death. Tractors must come fully-equipped with PTO guard shafts and proper warnings. If they do not, this could be a type of product defect worthy of litigation.

Another piece of equipment commonly seen on farms is the skid-steer loader. This machine is powered by an engine and comes equipped with arms that can be outfitted with a number of different attachments, all to accomplish a different purpose. The machine got its name because in order to turn, it skids. One particular type of attachment that the skid-steer loader can be outfitted with is the auger, which is a drilling bit that can be used to break up soil or dig holes in the sediment. Workers can actually become stuck in augers due to the revolving shafts of the machine. Again, just as is the case with PTO, there must be a protective screen in place to protect workers from the moving parts of the auger shaft.

When the guards to various farming machinery are broken or become damaged, workers will likely set them aside and continue to operate the equipment without them. This can be exceedingly dangerous. Farm equipment manufacturers, although they know the risks of operating machinery without guards, typically do not manufacture their equipment in such a way that the equipment doesn't work without the guard. Machines that automatically stop operating without the guard in place are exceedingly safer than those that do not.

Another unfortunate scenario on farms is asphyxiation in grain bins. Last year, the Chicago Tribune recorded that grain bin deaths in the State of Illinois had hit a record high of five deaths that year and ten total accidents. They also led the nation in number of grain bin incidents. What can happen in the case of grain bins is that the grain acts as quicksand that can suck workers to the bottom where lack of oxygen causes them to asphyxiate. There are numerous ways for a worker to become injured on the job, many of which are avoidable.

What Are Common Types of Farm Injury Cases?

Domina Law Group has considerable experience with farm injuries and accidents. We have been privileged to assist persons and families after injuries have disrupted or claimed lives, caused income losses, and threatened farming operations because of injuries to key personnel and liability claims arising from accidents.

Common Types of Farm Injury Cases include:

• Farm machinery amputation injuries (including bilateral amputations)
• Quadriplegic and paraplegic
• Rotating shaft injuries
• Auger injuries
• Burn injuries
• Missing or defective shield injuries
• Inadequate warnings, labels and decals injuries
• Grain elevator injuries
• Tractor rollover and operation injuries
• Harvest equipment and combine injuries
• Spray drift and chemigation injuries
• Noxious gas poisoning
• Center pivot irrigation system defects
• Electrical wiring and electrocution injuries
• Wrongful death
• Fire injuries and death
• Explosion injuries and death
• Crop damage injuries
• Injuries to dairy cows, and to people working with them
• Injuries to feedlot cows
• Feed ration and nutrition injuries and losses
• Milk losses, losses in daily gain
• Animal death and animal culling

Orthopedic Injuries

Farming and ranching involve compact time frames in which enormous tasks must be completed. This is true for both planting and harvesting and the birth and feeding of livestock. The work is hard. It ranges from stoop labor to operation of massive, complex machines in isolation from others. Musculoskeletal and orthopedic injuries are common afflictions on the farm or ranch.

Chemical Injuries

Direct chemical to skin or airway contact produces burns, pain, and the like in some, and delayed discovery such as the harms caused by carcinogens, in others. Many farm chemicals may be lawfully handled only certified, trained, and licensed persons. This is stark recognition of the risks to workers, and to the environment.

Turn to Domina Law Group for Help After a Farm Accident

Domina Law Group is a group of trial lawyers handling cases for disadvantaged and injured persons and their families across the United States. The firm provides trial services in courtrooms before judges and juries on a recurrent basis, and is recognized by its peers as one of the nation’s most aggressive trial practices.

The firm’s verdicts and cases include dozens of million-dollar, several multi-million-dollar verdicts, and one verdict for more than $1.2 billion. Domina Law Group lawyers currently have cases pending in nearly half the states in the nation and in federal courts from coast to coast and border to border.