Deputies investigate after a man was caught in a tobacco harvester.
Updated 2 hrs 49 mins ago
BENSON, NC (WTVD) --
A man was killed Friday afternoon when he reportedly got caught in tobacco farming machinery in a field outside Benson.
The area is near South Johnston High School off Hwy 301.
The man's name has not been released.
The cause of the accident was under investigation.
Burley tobacco farming is a labor-intensive, multiphase process exposing the farmer to various modes of injury. The cycle normally begins with growing tobacco plants in a greenhouse in large polystyrene trays. Before the trays can be packed with soil medium and seeded for germination, they are sanitized to prevent transmission of plant pathogens. This process is usually accomplished by fumigation with gases such as methyl bromide or by washing the trays in a 10% chlorine bleach solution, which exposes the farmer or farm worker to chemical burn risks.
As an example, an employee Killed When Caught In Tobacco Harvester. The employee was clearing a jam in the conveyor of a mechanical tobacco leaf harvester when he became caught in the conveyor and was killed. He did not turn off or lockout the machine before trying to clear the jam.
After germination, the young tobacco plants are "set" or planted in the field via a setter, a manned piece of planting equipment attached to the back of a tractor. Workers ride on the setter, placing the plants into rotating clamps as they move over the field, exposing workers to pinching injuries on their hands and fingers and to muscular strain and repetitive movement joint injuries. Falls may occur when mounting the setter or as the equipment moves over rough or uneven terrain. The plants are then grown in the fields for several months. Crop maintenance involves "topping" or removing the bloom from the top of the tobacco plant, which may result in cutting/piercing injuries. Pesticides are sometimes used on the crop and can be inhaled by or spilled on the farmer, resulting in respiratory problems or chemical burns. A machine called a high boy is used to drive between the rows of tobacco and spray crops, exposing farmers to overturns, falls, and chemicals.
During crop maintenance and harvest, green tobacco sickness (GTS) -- nicotine poisoning caused by wet tobacco -- is a common problem for workers. The moisture on the tobacco carries nicotine, which is absorbed through the skin during contact with the plant. Saturated clothing can also pass along nicotine. Cases of GTS were excluded from this study because of their complex nature. The noninjury effects of nicotine poisoning have been described elsewhere.[9-15]
During tobacco harvest, farmers must stoop repetitively to cut the plants low at the stalk using a hatchet-like, long-handled knife, and then impale these stalks onto a tobacco "spear." The spear usually consists of a conical shaped metal cap that fits onto a sharpened wooden stick. The stick is typically oak, roughly squared, approximately 11/2 to 2 inches on each side and about 5 feet in length. The harvest is an especially dangerous period for farmers, with potential for cuts to the hands, feet, and shins when cutting the plant and lacerations and wounds to the hands, upper arms, legs, and head as the farmer tries to force the tough, pithy stalk over the spear and down the stick. The loaded sticks are lifted onto a wagon and transported to a barn where they are hung to dry evenly in tiers.
Barns designed for hanging tobacco have three to five levels of wooden rail framework usually beginning 6 feet above the floor and continuing to the top of the barn, reaching heights of 30 feet, thus allowing air to circulate around the tobacco, These rails are generally rough-sawn 3 x 4 inch boards approximately 8 feet long. To hang the tobacco, workers stand on the narrow rails one above the other to the top of the barn, balancing between rails in a splay-legged position. The loaded sticks of tobacco, consisting of six or more stalks and weighing 100 to 125 pounds, are handed upward from the workers on lower levels to workers on the uppermost level to be filled. This process is hazardous for several reasons: (1) the rails are often unsecured and can roll or slip under the workers; (2) rails can break; (3) falls generally result in multiple injuries due to impact with the lower rails or tier poles, equipment, and other workers; and (4) the demands of balancing and lifting can cause muscular strain.
After the tobacco is dry, it is taken down from the barn in a reverse process. The dry leaves are stripped from the pithy stalk, loaded into a tobacco press and compressed into bales. The bending, lifting, and carrying required to bring the sticks to the stripping room, as well as the repetitive motion of the stripping process itself, expose the worker to muscular strain or back injury. Workers using the tobacco press are exposed to possible entanglement, pinching, or crushing injuries. The finished bales of tobacco are loaded on wagons or pickup trucks and transported to warehouses to be sold.
In addition to these modes of injury, throughout the process, farmers face the hazards of uneven ground, snake and insect bites, heat exhaustion, eye irritation or abrasion, respiratory hazards, and other illnesses such as GTS.