Fatalities associated with improper hitching to farm tractors--New York, 1991-1995.

Approximately half of all injury-related fatalities in the agricultural industry are associated with farm tractors (1). Since April 1991, the New York State Department of Health's Occupational Health Nurses in Agricultural Communities (OHNAC) program has investigated 27 incidents of sudden rear rollover of farm tractors (i.e., incidents in which the tractor flips backward, rotating around its rear axle); these incidents resulted in 15 fatalities. This report describes four of these incidents, summarizes the characteristics of the 16 incidents that involved improper hitching, and outlines strategies for reducing the risk for their occurrence.