source: Farm and Food Report
Will it surprise anyone who has ever spent quality time with a grain auger to find out that once the guard is taken off, it tends to stay off?
For James Wassermann and his colleagues at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI), the real question was: is there a way to remove the need for the guard to be taken off at all?
This is only one of the issues addressed in a recent report funded by SAFRR’s Agriculture Development Fund, titled “Improving the Safety of Older and Unfamiliar Machinery to be Used for Intensive and Value-Added Agriculture.”
James Wassermann is PAMI’s V.P. of Operations in Saskatchewan.
“There has been some really good research conducted on statistics related to injuries caused by agricultural accidents and the ways to prevent them. Most people in the industry are familiar with the work of the Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program (CAISP). From this, we know that farm machinery is the leading cause of injuries on the farm. As a result, considerable effort has been devoted to developing safer machines. But we found that there wasn’t the same level of energy invested in making older farm equipment safer.”
There were a number of projects funded by organizations like the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) with resources allocated to safety education and training. But Wassermann felt there was a particular need that wasn’t being addressed.
“When you look at the hierarchy of injury prevention techniques, engineering is really the most important aspect because it can have a direct impact on preventing, eliminating or guarding against the hazards of working in an agricultural environment. A significant portion of farm injuries occur on older equipment. We felt there was a need to apply engineering principles to improving the safety of this older equipment.”
Wassermann and his team decided to embark on a couple of pilot projects. First, they worked on designing an improved guard for auger intakes with two key features: it had to allow improved product flow through it, which would mean there would be less incentive for producers to take the guard off.
“Secondly, it had to be designed in a way that allowed the guard to be temporarily removed without being physically detached from the auger. We came up with an adjustable collar that permitted the entire guard to be slipped up and back down the auger in a matter of about 15 seconds.”
In addition, PAMI also developed a simplified guide on how to build one’s own machinery guarding.
“Before we wrote this guide, we found the only resources available were complicated engineering standards that were not really accessible to agricultural producers who, perhaps, might prefer to build their own solution and might not have been able to decipher this technical information. What we did is we extracted the important elements of current engineering standards and we made them more user-friendly in a distinct publication.”
As part of the study, PAMI also identified other areas where safety improvements were needed. For instance, the need to come up with rollover protective structures that could be added on to older tractors was addressed.
One of the ways PAMI contributes to disseminating its research findings is through the production of actual prototypes.
“We built 40 prototypes of our auger guards, which are currently circulating across the country. There are four in each province being demonstrated on Canadian farms. This is phase two of our project, where we circulate our findings to the public. Our guards have been installed on augers and are used on farms with the help the agricultural safety organizations in each province.”
As people visit these farms, they can see how well the adjustable auger guard works. Soon enough, PAMI will find out how easily the fruits of their labour will be adopted as a safety solution for older equipment.
Copies of the Final Report are available by ordering publication number 20030418 at http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/apps/adf/
The PAMI guide on guard design is titled On Guard and can be downloaded by clicking here.
For more information, contact:
James Wassermann, P. Eng.
Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute
(306) 682-2555
http://www.pami.ca
Will it surprise anyone who has ever spent quality time with a grain auger to find out that once the guard is taken off, it tends to stay off?
For James Wassermann and his colleagues at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI), the real question was: is there a way to remove the need for the guard to be taken off at all?
This is only one of the issues addressed in a recent report funded by SAFRR’s Agriculture Development Fund, titled “Improving the Safety of Older and Unfamiliar Machinery to be Used for Intensive and Value-Added Agriculture.”
James Wassermann is PAMI’s V.P. of Operations in Saskatchewan.
“There has been some really good research conducted on statistics related to injuries caused by agricultural accidents and the ways to prevent them. Most people in the industry are familiar with the work of the Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program (CAISP). From this, we know that farm machinery is the leading cause of injuries on the farm. As a result, considerable effort has been devoted to developing safer machines. But we found that there wasn’t the same level of energy invested in making older farm equipment safer.”
There were a number of projects funded by organizations like the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) with resources allocated to safety education and training. But Wassermann felt there was a particular need that wasn’t being addressed.
“When you look at the hierarchy of injury prevention techniques, engineering is really the most important aspect because it can have a direct impact on preventing, eliminating or guarding against the hazards of working in an agricultural environment. A significant portion of farm injuries occur on older equipment. We felt there was a need to apply engineering principles to improving the safety of this older equipment.”
Wassermann and his team decided to embark on a couple of pilot projects. First, they worked on designing an improved guard for auger intakes with two key features: it had to allow improved product flow through it, which would mean there would be less incentive for producers to take the guard off.
“Secondly, it had to be designed in a way that allowed the guard to be temporarily removed without being physically detached from the auger. We came up with an adjustable collar that permitted the entire guard to be slipped up and back down the auger in a matter of about 15 seconds.”
In addition, PAMI also developed a simplified guide on how to build one’s own machinery guarding.
“Before we wrote this guide, we found the only resources available were complicated engineering standards that were not really accessible to agricultural producers who, perhaps, might prefer to build their own solution and might not have been able to decipher this technical information. What we did is we extracted the important elements of current engineering standards and we made them more user-friendly in a distinct publication.”
As part of the study, PAMI also identified other areas where safety improvements were needed. For instance, the need to come up with rollover protective structures that could be added on to older tractors was addressed.
One of the ways PAMI contributes to disseminating its research findings is through the production of actual prototypes.
“We built 40 prototypes of our auger guards, which are currently circulating across the country. There are four in each province being demonstrated on Canadian farms. This is phase two of our project, where we circulate our findings to the public. Our guards have been installed on augers and are used on farms with the help the agricultural safety organizations in each province.”
As people visit these farms, they can see how well the adjustable auger guard works. Soon enough, PAMI will find out how easily the fruits of their labour will be adopted as a safety solution for older equipment.
Copies of the Final Report are available by ordering publication number 20030418 at http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/apps/adf/
The PAMI guide on guard design is titled On Guard and can be downloaded by clicking here.
For more information, contact:
James Wassermann, P. Eng.
Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute
(306) 682-2555
http://www.pami.ca
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