SLIPPERY ROCK — Farm safety is critical. Just ask Tony Nicoletto.

Nicoletto of Grove City spoke Tuesday at Farm Safety Twilight Night hosted by Grassycrest Farm and Penn State Extension about his near-death experience with a tractor.

Nicoletto had a tractor that, rather than having a safety switch on, had its safety switch bypassed.

“He hot-wired it,” said Sue Nicoletto, his wife.

That led to a brutal accident when Tony Nicoletto was under the tractor fixing it while it was on but immobile. The tractor began moving, bruising his liver, kidneys and intestines and causing an open book pelvis fracture and heavy bleeding.

He was taken by helicopter to a hospital. Even after surgery, things didn’t look good for him.

“Every day the doctors came in and said, ‘Oh, this guy’s still living, I didn’t think he would be,’” Sue Nicoletto said.

With hospital care and then later care from his wife, Tony Nicoletto slowly learned to walk, talk and eat again. However, he spent months laid up in bed.

“It took me almost two years before I could function properly again,” he said. “Everything works but not as good as it should.”

His story came near the end of a night filled with information regarding farm safety. The Kind family, which has run the farm since 1969, partnered with Penn State Extension for the event.

“(We wanted) to promote the awareness and how important it is to always be conscious of safety on your farm,” said farmer Layne Kind.

Janice Hassen, the extension’s district director of Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties, was glad to bring the event back this year.

“We used to do this five to eight years ago,” she said. “We did it mainly for the youth. With several farm accidents that have gone on recently, we thought that it was time to bring it back, because farm safety is critical. Kids and adults can come because it affects both of them.”

Tractors were prominent among the topics of discussion. Gary Micsky with the extension service listed several factors that can lead to tractor accidents, including farmers being in a hurry, being tired and tractors not being maintained.

“One of the biggest things that comes up is overfamiliarity,” he said. “You get careless.”

Micsky mentioned how valuable rollover protection structures are on tractors, but only if drivers are wearing their safety belts.

He also mentioned another key to tractor safety.

“We could do away with about a quarter of the fatalities per year if we’d do away with extra riders on our tractors,” he said.

Micsky recommended that all tractor users carry cell phones so they can phone for help in the case of an emergency.

The extension’s Ginger Fenton spoke of a less obvious, but still serious, danger; diseases contracted from animals through hand contact.

She recommended that people make sure to wash their hands after contact with animals at places like farms and petting zoos.

Fenton occupied a station that showed through bacteria lotion and black-lighting how hand sanitation and simply rinsing off one’s hands does little to get rid of bacteria.

Fenton recommended 20 seconds of thorough hand washing with soap.

“You might not even see the bacteria there, but it’s important you wash your hands, and take off dirty clothes and launder them,” she said.

Dan Reiber spoke about chain-saw safety. He said that one-third of all chain-saw accidents are cuts and other injuries to the legs, but that the number one cause is a tree falling on someone.

That’s why, he said, helmets are recommended.

Reiber also recommended safety glasses and ear muffs, rather than ear plugs because an ear muff covers the entire ear.

“You never want to cut wood standing on other wood; you always want to be on the ground,” Reiber said. “Sometimes that can be inconvenient, but it’s a lot safer.”

Other simulations showed how fast someone could be sucked into a corn harvester or a power takeoff.

The power take off involves a spinning drive shaft that allows an implement, such as a mower deck, to draw power from the tractor motor.

One who was appreciative of the displays was Jimmy Dillaman, a Slippery Rock farmer. Dillaman took his family to the event for educational purposes.

“We do farming, and you can’t even stress the safety, and we thought it might be a good program for all of us,” he said. “You get to where (farming) is second nature, and (accidents) happen quicker than you can react.”