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| 2007 Global Citizenship News & Events |
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John Deere Helps Save Lives Through ROPS Rebate Program
(October 5, 2007) - Building on its commitment to safety, John Deere is helping ensure the success of a New York State program that retrofits earlier model tractors with rollover protection structures (ROPS)—and ultimately helps save lives.
Tractor rollovers account for 44 percent of U.S. tractor deaths, and the Northeast has the highest tractor death rate in the country. These stark facts prompted the New York State Legislature to appropriate $200,000 for a ROPS Rebate Program in 2007, whereby New York farmers get reimbursed for 70 percent of the cost of a ROPS, up to $600, to retrofit a tractor.
John Deere dealerships across New York State actively assist project facilitators by ensuring clients' ROPS kits are ordered, installed and properly documented for a rebate, explains Trish Westenbroek of the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health, the group implementing the program.
"Deere & Company has been a key to the success of the ROPS program, and the company's commitment to safety is exemplified through the program," Westenbroek says. "Deere has worked hard to promote the ROPS program and is an avid participant in national efforts to reduce tractor fatalities and increase tractor safety."
More John Deere customers are taking advantage of the ROPS rebate program in New York than farmers with other brand tractors. So far, 57 percent of all ROPS retrofits have been made to John Deere tractors.
"John Deere makes this process easy and affordable for customers," says Mike DeSpain, Product Safety Engineer at John Deere. "We will continue to work closely with the New York program to ensure they are successful, and we're pleased to help improve the safety of New York farmers."
In the program's first year, 351 ROPS will be installed on tractors on New York farms. Because of the overwhelming interest from the farm community, the program will receive funding from the New York State Legislature for the coming year as well, Westenbroek says.
In the early part of the 20th century, all tractors were manufactured without rollover protection. In a rollover accident, farmers are sometimes pinned under the tractor and crushed by its weight. To reduce these injuries, John Deere engineers developed ROPS, which coupled with a seatbelt, offers protection if a tractor rolls. In 1966, Deere shared the ROPS patent with its competitors, so it could save lives of farmers everywhere, regardless of the brand of tractor they operated.
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