Tractor Central, LLC: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jul 8, 2019: Employee fractures ribs after caught under baler equipment

At 2:45 p.m. on July 8, 2019, an employee was assisting four coworkers, including coworker #1 and coworker #2, in troubleshooting a John Deere A420R Round Bale Accumulator and a John Deere 460M Round Baler at an off-site location. The baler gate wasn't closing on a bale being transferred to the accumulator and the employee was troubleshooting potential issues with a switch that actuates the round baler's rear gate. Coworker #2 was in a John Deere 6145R Tractor when the employee went underneath the accumulator to manually activate the switch to close the rear gate. Upon activating the switch, Coworker #1 notified Coworker #2 to attempt to close the gate by activating a selective control valve (SCV) toggle from the tractor cab. When Coworker #2 activated the SCV, the accumulator tipped downward onto the employee crushing his upper torso. The employee sustained four broken ribs and was hospitalized.

Incident on Nov 15, 2018 (fatal): Employee is killed when run over by tractor

At approximately 12:15 pm, on November 15, 2018, a sales employee was preparing to load a pre-owned John Deere tractor, Model 6420, for delivery to a customer. The shifting linkage was inoperable and disconnected due to a mechanical issue. While the tractor was running, the employee went beneath the tractor to manually shift it into reverse. The controls on the top side of the tractor were set at B1 allowing the tractor to move once shifted into reverse from the underside. Moving the linkage into reverse with the top controls set at B1 put the tractor into a slow backwards direction. The employee was lying under the tractor when it started moving. The employee was run over by the left front tire and became caught under the loader bucket. The tractor dragged the employee until it came to a rest against a neighboring building. The running tractor and employee were found by a coworker and lifesaving attempts were made. The employee died as a result of the crushing injuries. injuries.