source: Farm and Food Report
Every second or third week, John Saum, an Occupational Health and Safety Officer with Saskatchewan Labour, hits the road to meet up with farm operators.
“I plan on visiting three or four farm businesses, maybe their machinery dealers, and then visit specific farm units to talk to individual farmers about safety,” says Saum. “They may be a dairy farm, a cattle feedlot, PMU operation, chicken or egg producers. We try to inform employers and employees on their rights and obligations according to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations in Saskatchewan.”
Saum finds his hosts generally receptive to his observations.
“The farm sector is quite different from what you might see in a city,” he says. “Farmers often have two or three employees whom they work alongside. If there is a safety issue on the farm, the farmer is faced with that safety issue as well. The informed farmer takes action quickly, because if it is a safety issue for his or her employee, it is also an issue for him or her.”
But there is still a perception among the public on and off the farm that it is normal for accidents to happen on the farm, according to Saskatchewan Labour’s Executive Director of Occupational Health and Safety, Allan Walker.
“Farming is one of the most dangerous occupations one can choose,” Walker says. “An agriculture operation is one of the few industrial environments — one where chemicals and heavy machinery are present daily — in which people both work and live. Children live and grow up in this environment. Around 125,000 Saskatchewan people live in this industrial setting.”
Every year, more than 300 injuries severe enough to require hospitalization occur on the farm; 20 deaths occur annually across all ages. The Farm Health and Safety Council and Occupational Health and Safety staff have been working closely with other stakeholders to break this acceptance of the normality of accidents on the farm. This starts with children, right at school, with Grow Up with Safety, an Agriculture in the Classroom project that provides health and safety resources for Grade 1-6 school children.
“We would like to see farm safety become part of farming culture. All accidents are predictable and preventable. At the same time, we are also well aware of the pressures the cost/price squeeze of farming imposes.”
Most injuries take place between May and October, during the busy time of the year. People take risks they shouldn’t. They get fired up to get the job done and they take shortcuts. John Saum sees unnecessary hazards and risk-taking on his field trips.
“Quite often you will find safety shields off of pulleys; the guard off the auger itself; you can find safety shields off of balers; power take-off shafts may not be covered with safety shields. You may find some of the farmers will go up on bins using ladders without cages and they fall. Falling is one of the most critical accidents that can happen.”
As John Saum drives across the province, he often wonders about the risks people on the farm take. But he also knows how the changes that have affected agricultural industries over the years have had other, more perverse effects.
“Safety may be a common sense issue if you have grown up on a farm. If you have not grown up on a farm, there is no such thing as common sense on the farm. You have to actually experience the farm component of it before you actually understand what is going on. It is like anything else. And more and more, in the agribusiness sector especially, it is difficult to recruit employees who have had a broad range of farm experience.”
Saum and his colleagues believe it is time now to work on the safety education component of agriculture and to curb our common sense “false friend.”
For more information on Grow Up With Safety, click here.
For additional information, contact:
Allan Walker
Executive Director
Occupational Health and Safety Division
Saskatchewan Labour
(306) 787-4481
Every second or third week, John Saum, an Occupational Health and Safety Officer with Saskatchewan Labour, hits the road to meet up with farm operators.
“I plan on visiting three or four farm businesses, maybe their machinery dealers, and then visit specific farm units to talk to individual farmers about safety,” says Saum. “They may be a dairy farm, a cattle feedlot, PMU operation, chicken or egg producers. We try to inform employers and employees on their rights and obligations according to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations in Saskatchewan.”
Saum finds his hosts generally receptive to his observations.
“The farm sector is quite different from what you might see in a city,” he says. “Farmers often have two or three employees whom they work alongside. If there is a safety issue on the farm, the farmer is faced with that safety issue as well. The informed farmer takes action quickly, because if it is a safety issue for his or her employee, it is also an issue for him or her.”
But there is still a perception among the public on and off the farm that it is normal for accidents to happen on the farm, according to Saskatchewan Labour’s Executive Director of Occupational Health and Safety, Allan Walker.
“Farming is one of the most dangerous occupations one can choose,” Walker says. “An agriculture operation is one of the few industrial environments — one where chemicals and heavy machinery are present daily — in which people both work and live. Children live and grow up in this environment. Around 125,000 Saskatchewan people live in this industrial setting.”
Every year, more than 300 injuries severe enough to require hospitalization occur on the farm; 20 deaths occur annually across all ages. The Farm Health and Safety Council and Occupational Health and Safety staff have been working closely with other stakeholders to break this acceptance of the normality of accidents on the farm. This starts with children, right at school, with Grow Up with Safety, an Agriculture in the Classroom project that provides health and safety resources for Grade 1-6 school children.
“We would like to see farm safety become part of farming culture. All accidents are predictable and preventable. At the same time, we are also well aware of the pressures the cost/price squeeze of farming imposes.”
Most injuries take place between May and October, during the busy time of the year. People take risks they shouldn’t. They get fired up to get the job done and they take shortcuts. John Saum sees unnecessary hazards and risk-taking on his field trips.
“Quite often you will find safety shields off of pulleys; the guard off the auger itself; you can find safety shields off of balers; power take-off shafts may not be covered with safety shields. You may find some of the farmers will go up on bins using ladders without cages and they fall. Falling is one of the most critical accidents that can happen.”
As John Saum drives across the province, he often wonders about the risks people on the farm take. But he also knows how the changes that have affected agricultural industries over the years have had other, more perverse effects.
“Safety may be a common sense issue if you have grown up on a farm. If you have not grown up on a farm, there is no such thing as common sense on the farm. You have to actually experience the farm component of it before you actually understand what is going on. It is like anything else. And more and more, in the agribusiness sector especially, it is difficult to recruit employees who have had a broad range of farm experience.”
Saum and his colleagues believe it is time now to work on the safety education component of agriculture and to curb our common sense “false friend.”
For more information on Grow Up With Safety, click here.
For additional information, contact:
Allan Walker
Executive Director
Occupational Health and Safety Division
Saskatchewan Labour
(306) 787-4481
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