Effectiveness of innovative materials for the protection of driver of agricultural tractors against falling objects risk

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous sectors in both developing and industrialized countries. In the European Union (EU) agriculture activity is in 3rd place for injuries and deaths at workplace after manufacturing industry and construction. Machines are the most important responsible of injuries and fatalities in agriculture. Enhancement of occupational safety is one of the main objective of the European legislation. The European Directive 2010/52/EU introduces requirements for technical solutions to be adopted on agricultural tractors to provide protection to the driver against risk of falling objects that can occur carrying out normal operations in some agricultural tasks. When there is a risk for the driver because of falling object the tractor driving station has to be equipped of Falling Object Protective Structure (FOPS). The roofs of agricultural tractors act as FOPS. They are rarely made of metal, nearly often they are made of PolyEthylene (PE) or Sheet Molding Compound (SMC). Experimental trials have been carried out to investigate the effectiveness and behavior of the PE and SMC overhead protective structures fitted on agricultural tractors. Tests have been performed on cabs and rear roll-bars with cantilever overhead protections. The effectiveness of the FOPS has been assessed in accordance to standards OECD Code 10. The experimental trials showed that the prototype of PE and SMC FOPS do not always satisfy the safety requirements requested by the reference standard. To enhance the protection of the driver against the falling object risk is requested to improve the design and the construction specifications of the PE and SMC roofs to increase their strength.