Cotton picker and stripper harvesting machinery manufacturing · Iowa
John Deere Des Moines Works
Ankeny, IA · ~1,811 workers · 3 years of OSHA Injury Tracking Application data.
- D
- Poor Safety Record
- 5.4
- Avg TCR
- 3.3
- Industry avg
- 0
- Fatalities
The verdict
John Deere Des Moines Works runs at 163% of its industry's injury rate - more dangerous than the typical Cotton picker and stripper harvesting machinery manufacturing workplace, earning a grade D.
- D
- Poor Safety Record
- 5.4
- avg TCR · per 100 workers
- 3.3
- industry benchmark (BLS)
- 279
- recordable injuries tracked
Grade compares John Deere Des Moines Works's OSHA Total Case Rate of 5.4 to the Cotton picker and stripper harvesting machinery manufacturing BLS benchmark of 3.3 (163% of benchmark) across 3 years of Form 300A filings (2016–2024). <a href="/methodology">See methodology</a> for reporting-limitation caveats.
Injury rate over time
John Deere Des Moines Works's yearly Total Case Rate, against the 3.3 industry benchmark.
Where John Deere Des Moines Works falls in its industry
467 Cotton picker and stripper har establishmentsSafer than 45% of graded establishments in this industry, whose median TCR is 4.9.
Narrower to Iowa alone (the establishments it most directly competes with for workers and contracts): ranked #36 safest of 67 Cotton picker and stripper har employers in Iowa.
Trend analysis for John Deere Des Moines Works
Between 2022 and 2024, John Deere Des Moines Works's Total Case Rate improved from 4.6 to 4.2 recordable injuries per 100 full-time workers, a 9% decrease across 2 years of OSHA reporting.
The safest year on record was 2024, at a TCR of 4.2, while 2023 saw the highest rate, at 7.3, a spread of 3.2 points between the best and worst reporting years. That's a wide swing relative to the establishment's overall rate, worth checking the year-by-year table below for whether a single severe year is driving the average, rather than a sustained trend.
Summed across those 3 reporting years, John Deere Des Moines Works recorded 279 total injuries and illnesses, with no fatalities reported in any of those years. Readers comparing establishments should weigh the 3-year trend above alongside establishment size, since a larger workforce naturally accumulates more raw incidents even at a lower per-100-worker rate.
Verify This Employer with OSHA
The 279 injuries, 19 illnesses shown on this page for John Deere Des Moines Works are sourced from its own 3 years of mandatory OSHA Form 300A summaries. Cross-check the underlying establishment record directly against the federal source, name, NAICS classification, recordable case totals, and inspection history are all searchable on OSHA's Establishment-Specific Injury and Illness Data system.
Verify on OSHA Establishment SearchSource: U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA Establishment-Specific Injury and Illness Data. NAICS 333111 - Cotton picker and stripper harvesting machinery manufacturing.
DART Rate, Transparent Calculation (2024)
What is the DART rate formula?
DART (Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred) is computed by OSHA as incidents × 200,000 ÷ hours worked. The 200,000-hour denominator equals roughly 100 full-time workers, which lets establishments of very different sizes be compared directly.
43 DART incidents × 200,000 ÷ 3,489,637 hours worked = 2.46 DART
Methodology: 29 CFR 1904, OSHA Form 300A recordkeeping
Cross-Validating Context, Establishment vs Industry vs State
| Benchmark | TCR | Source |
|---|---|---|
| John Deere Des Moines Works (this establishment) | 5.37 | OSHA ITA Form 300A, 3-year avg |
| Irrigation equipment, agriculture, manufacturing industry avg | 3.30 | BLS IIF, NAICS 333111 |
| Iowa state avg (all industries) | 5.33 | OSHA ITA, state-level rollup |
Industry benchmarks: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities (IIF) program
Reportable Incident Timeline
Year-by-year reportable incidents (recordable injuries + illnesses + fatalities) submitted by John Deere Des Moines Works to OSHA's Injury Tracking Application. Each row anchors to OSHA's inspection records search where you can pull the underlying inspection case numbers and citations for that establishment-year.
- 2024: 73 reportable incidents · 69 injuries, 4 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2023: 139 reportable incidents · 125 injuries, 14 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
- 2022: 86 reportable incidents · 85 injuries, 1 illnesses, 0 fatalities - OSHA inspection records (case numbers)
Source: OSHA Inspection Information System (IMIS) - inspection case-number records
Year-by-Year Safety Data
| Year | TCR | DART | Injuries | Illnesses | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4.2 | 2.5 | 69 | 4 | 0 |
| 2023 | 7.3 | 5.2 | 125 | 14 | 0 |
| 2022 | 4.6 | 2.9 | 85 | 1 | 0 |
What this grade means for you
Use this grade as a relative read on John Deere Des Moines Works's reported OSHA injury record versus its Cotton picker and stripper harvesting machinery manufacturing peers, not a verdict on whether any single site is safe today.
- At 163% of the Cotton picker and stripper harvesting machinery manufacturing benchmark, John Deere Des Moines Works reports more injuries than typical peers, ask specifically how the employer is reducing them. Know your rights
- Judge this record against the wider Cotton picker and stripper harvesting machinery manufacturing sector, where injury rates vary widely, before comparing it in isolation. See the industry
- Grades reflect 2016–2024 filings; check the latest establishment record straight from OSHA, or look up a different employer. Look up another
Safety grades reflect employers' self-reported OSHA Form 300A filings from 2016 to 2024 and can lag current conditions. A grade is not a guarantee that any specific workplace is safe or unsafe today. See our methodology and disclaimer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is John Deere Des Moines Works's safety grade?
How many injuries has John Deere Des Moines Works reported?
Similar Employers
Matched by safety record across the industry, by workforce size within Iowa, and by nearby establishments in Ankeny - a different peer set than the category browse links below.
Similar TCR (~5.4)
Similar size (~1,811 workers)
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure and grade on PlainSafetyScore is computed directly from OSHA's published Injury Tracking Application data and BLS industry benchmarks, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these safety grades, or report a data error. Data current as of 2016-2024 OSHA ITA release.