SC ROPS is a joint project between Clemson University and South Carolina State University in conjunction with a continuing project at the University of Kentucky.
SC ROPS project will both increase awareness of safety issues associated with tractor rollovers and tractor-vehicle collisions and provide education on the safe operation of tractors and preventative solutions, such as ROPS.
SC ROPS project will focus on material recently developed by the University of Kentucky’s Community Partners for Healthy Farming ROPS Project (KYCPHF). The five components of the KYCPHF ROPS Project will be: “Mr. Good Egg Farmer,” “Photos of Fatal and Non-Fatal Tractor Overturns,” “How to Get a ROPS,” “Agricultural Safety PSAs,” and “Facts about Tractor/Motor Vehicle Collisions.”
Provide information pertaining to tractor rollovers and prevention to educate and increase awareness of tractor safety issues. Promote equipping tractors that do not have ROPS with ROPS or retrofitting older tractors that originally did not have a ROPS with a ROPS retrofit. Promote the safe use of ROPS on tractors.
Significance:
Agricultural fatalities make agriculture one of the deadliest industries in the United States. The most dangerous piece of equipment on the farm is the tractor. More than thirty-five people have been killed in South Carolina in the past ten years while operating a tractor. The majority of these fatalities have been due to tractor rollovers, which could have been prevented by the use of rollover protective structures (ROPS). Promoting the use of ROPS and retrofitting tractors without ROPS can lead to safer farm operations and eliminate these needless fatalities.