Farm tractors are large, heavy, powerful vehicles with a high center of gravity. When driven carelessly on sloping, irregular, or slippery ground, tractors can overturn sideways and cause the death by crush asphyxia of the driver or passengers, especially if appropriate safety equipment is not fitted or used. The aim of this review is to focus on the diagnostic difficulties with which coroners and forensic pathologists have to cope when a confirmation of crush asphyxia after tractor side rollover is required by judicial authorities. Forensic investigations in such cases must involve the meticulous analysis of the death scene and the mechanical characteristics of the vehicle together with accurate postmortem and toxicological examination.

Blunt or penetrating lesions and crush asphyxia resulting from attacks by large animals, and poisoning by or an anaphylactic reaction to hymenoptera stings, are a significant cause of death in agricultural occupations. Medico-legal investigations should accurately evaluate the scene of death, the related circumstances and the autopsy evidence in order to reconstruct the dynamics of the fatal event, to confirm that the attack was accidental and to exclude a hypothesis of suicide or homicide. Agricultural workers should be educated about the potential risks involved in animal husbandry and need appropriate training on preventive measures and safety procedures.

No abstract

A case of the accidental death of a 42-year-old male injured by a screw log splitter in the yard of a private house necessitated a post-mortem examination and the technical evaluation of the machinery. The autopsy revealed fatal traumatic lesions to the head, caused by impact with a downward-moving log. Analysis of the scene of the accident showed that the machinery was not equipped with safety systems and was used incorrectly by the operators. The decision of the Criminal Court determined the absence of liability of the parties to be persecuted.

Agricultural work encompasses a variety of activities which carry with them different risks. One such activity is working at height, a frequent cause of fatal accidents. The aim of this work is to describe and discuss a typical case of a fall from height in order to understand the traumatic consequences of such accidents, to analyze the dynamics and lesions, and highlight the dangers of working at height. These falls, which may involve farm workers who are officially or unofficially employed, can produce injuries whose seriousness is not always strictly correlated to the height of the fall.