Tractor safety structures improve safety for farmers

Most tractor rollover deaths could be prevented with ROPS, say experts

At a glance: An estimated 50% of tractors in use today aren't equipped with a Rollover Protection Structure. K-State agricultural safety expert Tawnie Larson explains how ROPS and other safety measures can save lives on Kansas farms.

More information:
Tawnie Larson, 785-532-2976, tawnie@ksu.edu
Ed Brokesh, 785-532-2907, ebrokesh@ksu.edu

Related: National ROPS Rebate Program | Machinery Safety on the Farm | National Safe Tractor Machinery Operations Program | Kansas Agriculture Safety and Health

May 14, 2025

K-State Research and Extension news service

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Ten years ago, Andrew Koukol nearly became a statistic.

Instead, the father of two preschoolers today crunches numbers for a Kansas City-based engineering firm.

In the summer of 2014, he was a 21-year-old college student with a summer job to mow roadsides for a Kansas City area suburb.

He was no stranger to operating a tractor. That’s a skill he learned growing up on visits to his grandparents’ farms.

“Another person and I were assigned to mow the median areas for the highway and off-ramps,” Koukol said. Often, those areas contain obstacles or vegetation that conceal drainage ditches and sudden drop-offs, he added.

One Friday afternoon, Koukol’s partner had the day off, and he was mowing alone.

“I was working in an area that was mostly flat,” he recalls. As he tried to navigate around utility boxes in the median, the mower became high-centered. He wasn’t able to maneuver without going down the steeper part of the hill.

That’s when the ground gave away, and the tractor overturned.

“As the tractor rolled, I was thinking I needed to turn off the mower, but to keep the tractor running so the brakes wouldn’t go out,” he said.

Thanks to the Rollover Protection Structure (ROPS) of the tractor, Koukol escaped the mishap with a couple of stitches to close a gash on his right arm. He was also wearing a seat belt.

“I probably would have been thrown out if it hadn’t been for the seatbelt,” he said.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says 417 people died in tractor rollovers between 2011 and 2018 -- an average of 52 every year.

Like Koukol, most victims of tractor rollovers are familiar with heavy equipment. The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety says the majority of persons who dies in tractor accidents are experienced equipment operators.

The NEC and the National Tractor Safety Coalition have worked for a decade to educate farmers and tractor owners about the need for ROPS.

Farmers are nearly eight times more likely to die on the job than the average American Worker, says the NEC. Tractor overturns are the leading cause of death.

The numbers also show that most of those deaths are preventable. The ROPS includes a roll bar above the seat, supported by two or four posts, or a crush-proof cab.

When used with seatbelts, ROPS are 99% effective in preventing injury and death, according to the NEC.

Yet, an estimated 50% of tractors in use today aren’t equipped with ROPS. In 1985, tractor manufacturers adopted a voluntary standard to include ROPS and seatbelts on all new tractors over 20 horsepower. Even rollovers of small lawn tractors or lawn mowers without ROPS can cause injury or death, says the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

But in many places where tractors are used, people continue to operate older model tractors or implements not equipped with ROPS.

"Andy is my nephew,” said Ed Brokesh an assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering at Kansas State University. “When this incident was related to me, I was struck by how relaxed my family was about the event. This means the ROPS did its’ job really well. Had the tractor not had a ROPS, the event would have ended much differently.

Brokesh added: “When I was a kid, in the pre-ROPS days, a tractor rollover was an event that usually meant serious injury, or worse for the tractor operator. This incident involving my nephew wasn't a big deal, and it's all because of the ROPS".

The National Tractor Safety Coalition is currently working to reduce tractor overturn fatalities by expanding current state-based ROPS Rebate Programs into a National ROPS Rebate Program. The coalition hopes to raise sufficient funds for rebates through federal, state and private funds to provide an incentive to encourage owners to retrofit tractors with ROPS.

The rebate program can help pay up to 70% of the cost to purchase and install the safety equipment.

K-State Research and Extension, through the Carl and Melinda Helwig Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Kansas State University, have collaborated with the National ROPS Rebate Program to research and gain support through public and private funding and partnerships to provide Kansas farmers with the rebate program.

The average cost of a ROPS is $1,200, said Tawnie Larson, program manager for the K-State program. Larson says the estimated cost of a fatal overturn to a family and farm is more than $750,000. Ten Kansas farmers have died, and another six sustained serious injury in tractor rollover accidents in the last eight years.

“Approximately 30,000 Kansas farms are operating without ROPS on at least one tractor,” Larson said.

While Kansas does not currently have funding for a rebate program, Larson said K-State hopes the number of people who sign up for the wait list will show the need and interest to state and federal legislators.

Brokesh added, "When I think about his incident, I consider all the work that went into the development and adoption of the ROPS back in the 60's and 70's and how that work made a such a difference in my nephews' outcome."

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