GOOfy FARM ACCIDENTS IN '47 



WITH hundreds of Illinois farmers 

 being injured in farm accidents 

 each year it's not surprising that 

 several so-called daffy mishaps 

 would turn up in the news clip- 

 pings gathered by the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association safety and health de- 

 partment. 



Looking over these 1947 accidents we 

 find that "bottled corn" is not the only 

 dangerous type - — an ear of corn thrown 

 by a corn cutter fractured a farmer's jaw. 

 In another case a soybean pierced a com- 

 bine operator's eye. 



Livestock accidents, though gradually 

 decreasing, accounted for several of the 

 daffy variety. One dairyman reversed the 

 usual procedure by kicking the cow he 

 was milking and wound up with a frac- 

 tured toe. 



A hog producer suffered a fractured 

 leg when a heavyweight porker ran into 

 him. Another hog producer thought 

 counting hogs a safe pastime until the 

 post he was sitting on gave way and 

 dumped him on the ground, causing 

 severe injuries to both hands. 



One Illinois farm wife doesn't believe 

 the old saying that lightning never strikes 

 twice. Last year she was struck near the 

 same window in her home where she was 

 hit 10 years before. 



Speaking of lightning, one old sow 

 demonstrated good "hog sense" when she 

 sought safer quarters for her record litter 

 of 13 pigs by leaving an isolated, much- 

 struck hollow tree where she'd sought 

 temporary housing to give birth to her 

 piggies. 



Other accidents include a farmer who 

 tried to rescue a puppy from a well and 

 fell in himself; a man who broke his 

 ankle while chasing a dog away from his 



By W. W. WHITLOCK, Director 



lAA Dept. Safety and Public Health 



sheep; and a boy who punctured his lung 

 on a broken piece of concrete sidewalk. 



These are just a few of the unusual 

 farm accidents, and true, the law of 

 averages may save you from mishap — 

 provided the "usual" kind doesn't get 

 you first. 



Among these more usual accidents, ma- 

 chinery casualties are mounting each year. 

 For instance, it's not unusual at all for 

 200 or 300 Illinois farmers to be hurt on 

 tractors each year. More often than not 

 it is caused by the operator falling off or 

 overturning the tractor. Reduced speed 

 around corners and avoidance of ditches 

 could easily reduce these accidents to the 

 minimum now enjoyed by cranking casu- 

 alties which was the leader for several 

 years. 



Other machinery accidents in 1947 

 show combines causing a similar share of 

 accidents as previously. Making ad- 

 justments or oiling while machinery is in 

 motion takes a yearly toll of around 50 

 farmers. 



But the mechanical corn picker con- 

 tinues to lead in seasonal machinery 

 casualties. It seems that a couple hun- 

 dred injured farmers, half of them either 

 killed or permanently disfigured, would 

 be incentive enough for others to use 

 adequate power take-off shields or to 

 simply shut off the power while undog- 

 ging the machine. 



Lightning accounted for more deaths 

 and injuries last year than for any year 

 in the past decade. 



With hunting accidents in 1947 four- 

 fold the 1946 figure, you are again re- 

 minded to be wary of the "unloaded gun" 

 and to point a gun only where you in- 

 tend to shoot. 



Shuman Names Three to { 

 Rural Doitor Fund Committee 



PRESIDENT Charles B. Shuman has 

 announced that Floyd E. Morris, vice- 

 president, Sangamon county, K. T. Smith, 

 Greene, and Lyman Bunting, Edwards, 

 board members, have been appointed to 

 the Medical Education Fund Committee 

 of the Illinois Agricultural Association. 

 This new committee will help to ad- 

 minister the student loan fund now being 

 established by the Illinois Agricultural 



Association jointly with the Illinois 

 Medical Society to help needy students 

 through medical school. 



This fund will advance $1,000 annual- 

 ly over a period of five years to students 

 admitted to recognized medical schools. 

 They must agree to return and practice 

 general medicine in a town of less than 

 5,000 population until their loans have 

 been repaid. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



