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Nebraska Worker Safety Alert ATVs

June 6th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

Workers need to be trained to operate ATVs on the job. The All Terrain Vehicle is being used with greater frequency in the workplace, and on-the-job ATV accidents have claimed 100 lives in the past 10 years.

A Nebraska worker safety alert provides a guide to operation of the sporty vehicles sometimes perceived as little more than a recreational toy. The recent bulletin outlines what the operation guidelines should be and what training employees need to avoid potentially deadly accidents.

Those guidelines are meant for any vehicle that meets this definition: a motorized off-road vehicle that is made to run on low-pressure tires, with a seat straddled by the driver, and with handlebars rather than a steering wheel. The guidelines point out that these machines are meant for a lone operator without a passenger.

The Nebraska worker safety alert also points out that the risks of workplace ATV accidents can be cut back by wearing helmets, as well.

It’s important for workplace operators to remember that ATVs don’t handle like a car. In fact, handling one is entirely different.

The Nebraska worker safety alert stresses that ATV drivers are exposed to the same risks as recreational operators.

One problem is that there is a general perception that, because ATVs are used recreationally, and children drive them, the machines must be easy to operate. That’s not the case. The ATV is prone to rollovers and other accidents, and some of those accidents are fatal – or at least cause serious injuries.

The figures are grim and the trend is disturbing. In statistics for recreational users, deaths by ATV hit 470 in 2004, compared to 29 a little more than 20 years earlier, in 1982. Injuries reached 800,000 in the last decade.

Meanwhile, according to the Nebraska Department of Labor and Nebraska OSHA, the use of the ATV in the workplace is increasing, and many workers are just not receiving the training they need to operate the machines safely.