REGINA (Staff) – A 71-year-old Weyburn, Sask., area farmer was killed Sept. 23 while he and his son were repairing a combine.
Ernest Tollefson died after being caught between the combine and a truck. His son had started the combine to check the repairs when it lurched forward and pinned his father. The accident happened around 11 a.m. in the Talmage district, northeast of Weyburn. RCMP said no charges will be laid.
It is the 12th farm fatality in the province this year, said Dawn Stanger, farm safety program officer with Saskatchewan Labor.
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Half of these accidents have occurred since July.
Last year 28 people died in farm-related accidents, 24 of them by this time, Stanger said, but that was one of the worst years on record.
“We’re probably close to the average this year,” she said. Records have been kept for the last 12 years.
Start from cab
Stanger said two of the last five accidents involved bypass starting.
“Bypass starting is one of the worst things you can do,” Stanger said, adding that farmers need to learn to take an extra minute to get up in the cab of the machinery they’re using.
Two other fatalities occurred when people became caught in power take-offs.
“When something is turning at 17 times a second, by the time you know you’re caught, it’s too late.”
Stanger said harvest is late, farmers are under stress and they’re tired. They need to take more time to be careful.
