Injured in the Farm | Kevin Bailey

Neil: Neil from Messick's here with a special guest today, I'm standing out here in the shop with Kevin Bailey. We're in the middle of Open House season right now and Kevin was one of our speakers here today. Just a quick synopsis for our viewers here on what you'll speak on.
Kevin Bailey: I talk about an accident that I had when I was 18 years old. It was an accident that was due to inattention, complacency, shortcut, invincibility, all these factors formed the perfect storm. I ended up working around a power take-off shaft that was unguarded and I lost my right leg at the hip.
Neil: Kevin speaks on this topic for a living. His information is going to be down the video description here below. We're going to take a couple of minutes here and do a short synopsis of his story here this morning. Safety around farm machinery is really important. We, here in this business, hear horrifying stories several times a year of things that happen to our customers. Hopefully, by spending some time here today, we can draw a little bit more awareness to the issue.
Neil: Tell me a little bit about your injury here. What exactly happened?
Kevin: On October 15, 1986, I headed over to work for a neighbor. I was unloading silage wagons. This particular wagon did not have a guard on it. I put a little step into the process, and it cost me my right leg due to coming in contact with the rotating power take-off shaft and I lost my right leg at the hip.
Neil: The PTO shaft that you got caught up in was unguarded basically, right?
Kevin: It was unguarded, correct.
Neil: Totally unguarded.
Kevin: It was not only unguarded, but it also had a degree of damage to the shaft itself, which was the point of contact. There was some points where it could be caught that are catch points, and it spooled me in like a fishing reel.
Neil: Right into the shaft.
Kevin: Right into the power shaft.
Neil: We're standing in front of a gnarly old manure spreader here. On older equipment, stuff like this was a little bit more common. You have these older shafts that aren't as carefully shielded as the ones that we have here today.
Kevin: Correct.
Neil: Tell me a little bit about here what exactly went wrong with the shaft itself.
Kevin: Now, this is all conjecture and speculation on my part, but I believe, as you can maybe see on this shaft, there are dents in the shield. My thinking is, because the shield was dented, being that it was made out of metal back then, and it didn't allow to extend and retract. To expedite your process in working and making things more efficient, a farmer would likely just cut the shaft or cut the shield off the shaft, exposing--
Neil: To make it easier to slide in and out.
Kevin: Correct.
Neil: That exposed the end of that and then when your pant leg basically was up there on the side of the wagon, the pant leg then wound into the shaft.
Kevin: Correct. When I was standing to peek into the wagon, I think farmers do it all over the world, probably all over the world, it brought my leg very close to the power shaft. The point of contact was actually where the hollow square tubing met the solid shaft. This corner, because it was bent, I imagine, somebody probably drove away with it running or drove it around the field where they're still connected. This was damage to the point where there were cracks in the corners, in the tabs on this square tubing where it actually flared open like a lid on a cardboard box.
Neil: Tell me a little bit about how quickly this happened then, right, because you have this rapidly spinning shaft that catches your pant leg. I mean, did you have a moment's notice to think?
Kevin: There is zero time to think. One minute you can be thinking about what you're going to order on a pizza and what movie you're going to see, which is the last thought I can remember having, and the next minute you're fighting for your life. It's just that quick.
Neil: That quick.
Kevin: That quick. It's so fast.
Neil: The one thing I remember from your speech this morning, so you were on one side of the machine that you stepped up on.
Kevin: Correct.
Neil: Your pant leg got caught. You're wrapped into the shaft, and where did you land?
Kevin: When I was looking into the wagon, I was on the driver's side. That brought me in close proximity to the shaft. I think what happened is I jumped down and I lost my balance or spun, and that's when my right leg came in contact with the power shaft. When things came to a stop, I was on the other side, laying almost in a pool lounge chair position with my shoulders up towards the wagon. My foot was splayed out towards the tractor and the shaft was attached to the wagon.
The universal joint broke at the tractor. That's what stopped the shaft, but I was still wrapped up in the shaft and I was constricting breathing. The Carhartts that I had on were compressing around my chest. It was just a battle to be able to breathe.
Neil: Your injury at that point is, thankfully, the shaft broke or you wouldn't be with us today, more or less.
Kevin: God's hands of provision, believe me.
Neil: Then at that point, you're basically wrapped up and calling out for help.
Kevin: Yes.
Neil: Now, you said earlier, it took how long before somebody came out and was able to find you?
Kevin: It was 40 to 50 minutes, my timeframe is pretty foggy. It seemed like it was right around a little after eleven o'clock when the accident happened. The guy found me five minutes to noon, called the paramedics and they showed up on the ambulance report 12:16.
Neil: Your physical state at that point was what? I mean, you're wrapped up--
Kevin: Very shocky. Physical state, I was laying on the ground, my dad had showed up, he covered me up the best he could, try to help treat shock. Vital signs were declining. Once the ambulance crew and the paramedic showed up, they were administering fluids and treating for shock with inflatable pants or compression pants. My condition actually improved, I was more cognitive of what was going on, I could actually remember things even a little bit better.
Neil: You were more or less crushed then more than--?
Kevin: It was a twisting and pulling type of an amputation on the right leg. I think what happened to the left leg is I may have gone around one time, and the left leg between the knee and the ankle struck, I'm thinking, the drawbar, and it shattered the bones internally. It looked like a candy cane that's been kicked around the floor at Walmart.
Neil: You didn't have blood loss, per se, more or less just--?
Kevin: They think what happened in people who've been in beef or cattle sector of agriculture, when you de-horn cows, there's a process that you slow to prevent the blood loss, and it's a stretching and a snapping of an artery. They think that that happened. The muscle tissue flopped down the remaining from the residual limb, and that slowed the blood loss.
Neil: Almost makes a tourniquet, more or less from--
Kevin: More like a very efficient compression bandage, sort of. It was more of that. The left leg, there was no really external injury that I could see. It was all internal, it was shattered bone.
Neil: There's a handful of things that probably could have prevented this. Speaking on these things is what you do for a living. Not to take away your presentation, can you give us a couple of bullet points of things to keep in mind that could maybe have prevented this?
Kevin: I think complacency is a primary. If you've grown up around equipment, or if you've worked in a facility that you've always been around it, you get comfortable with hazards that would probably send people running. You just get comfortable and complacent around that process or the machinery. Shortcuts, knowing what you can do to make the job a little easier, even though it may not be the right way. Inattention, you have your mind on other things. I had another factor and that was invincibility. I was 18 years old and kids feel like they're invincible.
Neil: Obviously, we still see horrific injuries happen today. Things have gotten safer. We see better shielding on PTO shafts, plastic shielding that spins and slides a lot more freely. What are some of the things that you've seen implemented that maybe have improve this situation for people today?
Kevin: I would definitely say culture has gotten better to some extent. There are programs in place. One that comes to mind is one of the things that actually got me into speaking was Progressive Farming Magazine offers a Progressive Ag Safety Day. They are nationwide, they seem to be centered in the Midwest, like Pennsylvania has a hotbed of them. Minnesota, there's a few. I didn't see anything in Wisconsin. They help develop a culture in kids. This program is geared for kids, and that's one asset.
Neil: Another thing that we would see a lot more lately is funding, money, interest, whatever you want to call it, and things like back-up cameras. Many of the injuries that we've seen here locally are often around skid steers, more often than not, and unfortunately usually involving kids behind them because you can't see small people out the back of the machine. I'd echo there's definitely a lot more awareness out there towards having safe operating environments-
Kevin: -and providing the equipment to make it easier to accomplish a job safely. In the old days, the shields were made out of metal, now they're made out of plastic. They're prone to maybe UV degradation and cracking and breaking, but the denting aspect has been taken care of and that would be a reason for a lot of farmers to remove the old metal ones.
Neil: I'll tell you one thing, and maybe admit that I'm guilty of this sometimes. Even with those plastic ones, they move so much easier, but you still need to take the safety chains that are on the end and clip them on something to keep the plastic from spinning.
Kevin: True.
Neil: You talked about the shaft and the metal piece being splayed open. There's places that you could easily catch a zipper on those things.
Kevin: For sure. Definitely.
Neil: Even with the improvements that have been made today, it still warrants care.
Kevin: I speak to a lot of companies, industries, mining operations, manufacturing, the petrochemical, oil and gas industries, refineries. Companies put hundreds of thousands of dollars into a safety program, if not millions. It all comes down to the individual making the choice to perform the task safely. We all have moments of decision. We have a moment where we're going to approach a task and we can take the shortcut and the easy way, or we can do it the right way, which might take a little longer, but you're mitigating a lot of hazards.
Neil: Definitely could resonate with that.
Kevin: For sure.
Neil: Appreciate you coming. Thanks for coming out to our open house.
Kevin: I appreciate the chance to be here.
Neil: We live and work in a community where these kinds of stories are heard way too often. You shared here earlier, the people that came up to you after the meeting was over.
Kevin: Definitely. If you're saying that you're hearing it, I believe it, because after my presentation, I had probably a half-an-hour, 45-minute discussion with people who've had an injury, who knew somebody who was injured, or had a relative hurt or killed.
Neil: Whether you're working in your backyard with your own piece of machinery, you're on a farm or construction company, take that care. Own your safety yourself. If you're a business looking for somebody to come out and speak to your staff on this issue, Kevin did a great job here with us today. His contact information will be down there in the video description.