Labor in agriculture and most other Biosystems areas is very dangerous. To date, still about 100 people die annually in the United States due by tractor overturns. These fatalities could have easily been prevented.

Sweden has reduced the number of deaths due to overturn to zero, by requiring that every tractor in the country is fitted with a Roll Over Protection System (ROPS). Since in America farms usually employ fewer than 10 people, they are not required to comply with OSHA regulation, and hence are allowed to operate older tractors without ROPS. The fact that still 100 people perish due to overturns is indeed an Occupational Obscenity (quote: NIOSH Director Dr. J. Donald Millar).

Although it is unlikely that farmers who refuse to protect themselves with a simple Roll Bar will benefit, Sensors and Automation Technology can be used to prevent overturns altogether. In the Automatic Tractor Overturn Prediction System (ATOPS), sensors are used to detect the imminence of a Tractor Overturn. Most sensors currently under development only work when the geometry of the tractor remains constant (which is unlikely when for instance a bucket is lifted) or only react to the actual overturn taking place (accelerometer). In this research a method is used that truly indicates the imminence of an overturn by simply measuring the forces on the wheels in real time. This system works accurately even under geometry changes, and can be used to warn the operator before the overturns happens. Obviously it can also serve as the sensing element of an active intervention system which acts automatically when the user ignores the warnings.

Forestry operations can be dangerous as well. A classic example is the Feller Buncher, a machine with a 1.5 m diameter rotating sawblade that cuts trees in the blink of an eye. When saw teeth break off these machines, they propel the tooth which weighs in at 1 kg, at very high speeds up to 200 m/s. To protect the operator of other machines, safety glazing needs to be tested. An air cannon was developed for this purpose which is part of the safety research.

Adaptive Tractor Overturn Prediction System (ATOPS)

Development of a Test Cannon for Thrown Object Protection for Forest Machines