Medicolegal Investigations Into Deaths Due to Crush Asphyxia After Tractor Side Rollovers

Abstract

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.

Definition of a Methodology for Gradual and Sustainable Safety Improvements on Farms and Its Preliminary Applications

“…Farms also showed a range of activities involving subcontractors that are not managed in compliance with the specific Italian regulations [9][10][11][14][15][16].…”

Agricultural Health and Safety Survey in Friuli Venezia Giulia

“…In this regard it should be stressed that the legislation does not provide the private use of the tractor, it must always be linked to the cultivation or the forest; this is a factor that is often missing in the use of such equipment, in fact, as shown in the analyzed data in five cases the tractor was used in non-agricultural contexts and with playful purposes (race of tractors, carnival parade, loading and unloading of building material, and transport with tractor of building vehicles) [2,11] • Structural failures (within the analyzed cases, some of them are related to the failure of embankments, bridges or ditches) [2,11].…”

“…Within the European Community and according to Italian norms, there is currently a decisive indication by the legislator to make the use of agricultural tractors more professional and more responsible in considering other sectors as the plants to energy conversions and agro industrial [11,12,[17][18][19][20][21].…”

The Analysis of the Cause-Effect Relation between Tractor Overturns and Traumatic Lesions Suffered by Drivers and Passengers: A Crucial Step in the Reconstruction of Accident Dynamics and the Improvement of Prevention

“…(a) the ground can become slippery with the tractor operating in conditions where there is a dangerous coefficient of traction which leads to side, rear or front overturns (The coefficient of traction between two surfaces, e.g., rubber tyre and ground surface, is expressed by the following equation: A f = C a × C f , where A f is the frictional force which resists the relative motion between two surfaces (tyre and ground), C a is the coefficient of traction between those two surfaces, and C f is the compression force involving two opposing surfaces (i.e., the weight bearing upon the wheel)) [18]. (b) verges, escarpments and the banks of waterways may become waterlogged and give way.…”

“…When maneuvering the tractor on a slope at more than the α overturn angle, side, rear or front rollover will result (the α overturn angle and the % gradient of the slope are represented mathematically by the following equation: i = a t /2 hα, where i is the percentage gradient, a t is the tractor's wheel track, h is the height of the center of gravity, and α the angle between the incline and the horizontal ground line) [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. In wet or icy conditions:…”