According to the latest CAIR findings, from 1990 to 2020 there were 2,814 agriculture-related fatalities in Canada, an average of 91 deaths each year. However, when looking at figures between 2006 and 2020, the average number of fatalities drops to 70 per year.

That decrease offers a glimmer of good news for the industry, but the report makes it clear that agriculture still has a long way to go when it comes to farm safety.

Of particular concern is the fatality rate for the 0-14 age group, said Don Voaklander, director of the Injury Prevention Centre and a professor of public health.

As the CAIR report notes, one of the unique aspects of agriculture is that farms and ranches are not just worksites but also places where people live. As a result, while other industries see victims of occupational injuries almost exclusively in the 18 to 65 age range, children account for a significant number of injuries in agriculture.

“It’s still distressing that the child fatality rate has not changed one iota in the 30 years of CAIR reports. It’s just flatline for fatality rates with kids and that’s the most disturbing part of the report,” said Voaklander, adding many of the deaths are the result of drownings and machine run-overs.

“It’s always more distressing when we haven’t changed behaviour around kids. While the mechanisms (of injury) have changed over the years, the rate of fatalities for kids hasn’t.”

However, there have been “significant gains” with older farmers, he added.

Though fatality rates are still the highest among older farmers, there has been a steady decline in fatalities for the 60 and over age group, with a statistically significant decrease of 1.8 per cent each year from 1990 to 2020. More modern farm equipment is the key factor.

“In anecdotal information, the older farmers, typically, when working on the farm take out the older equipment because they’re familiar with it” Voaklander said. “But a lot of that older equipment is coming out of service now, which has made a significant difference. The use of more modern equipment has certainly had an impact.”

While the decrease in fatalities is promising, it comes with a catch. The number has declined because the number of farmers dropped by half from 1990 to 2020 (a difference of 571,033 fewer people).

“The number of fatalities has decreased but that correlates with the number of farmers actively farming,” said Voaklander.

And farming remains one of the most hazardous occupations, ranking fourth overall and the most dangerous occupation “in terms of absolute numbers of fatalities.”

A primary reason for that is attitudes, he said.

“Agriculture, as an industry, hasn’t adopted a culture of safety,” Voaklander said. “One of the reasons the farming community is so unique is that it’s all about a culture of risk. ‘What insurance am I going to take out? What commodity am I going to produce? Is the weather going to be helpful to me this year?’

“Risk is an accepted part of the culture in agriculture and that’s really hard to change.”

Being aware of the hazards is critical. And while farmers and farm workers are well aware of the risks associated with rollovers and run-overs (the top two causes of fatalities), Voaklander said they are less aware of other hazards, such as drownings.

“Farms are full of dugouts and manure pits and stock tanks, and these are all drowning hazards, especially for kids on the farm,” he said.

“It comes down to that safety needs to be part of the everyday. Whenever something needs to be done, the thought process should be ‘what’s the safest way I should do this?’”

And that need to embrace farm safety as part of the everyday is tied to the overarching purpose of the CAIR data, which Voaklander said is intended to help “back up the position that farm safety is important.”

“That’s the importance of maintaining these reports, that it keeps the data front and centre. It underscores the issue and proves the importance of farm safety and that more needs to be done.”

The report can be found at casa-acsa.ca/en/cair/reports. The 35-page document has tables such as the top three causes of fatalities by season (page 13), the 10 leading causes of fatalities (page 15) and the top three causes of roll-overs and what task was being performed when they happened (page 18). 

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“We have a pretty dynamic farm — there’s never a day that goes by without something exciting happening,” said Richard. “But that is also why it’s been important to have a culture of safety on the farm.”

Over the past decade, the pedigree seed farm near the southern Alberta hamlet of Enchant has steadily increased its production, reaching about 7,000 acres and hiring more employees. Those changes have been accompanied by the return of Richard and Marian’s three sons — Greg, Nathan, and Matthew — who now manage day-to-day operations, along with an intensified approach to safety.

“We have more moving parts at the farm compared to 10 years ago, so we realized we couldn’t keep doing things the way we were and needed to put that culture of safety up front,” said Nathan, who manages farm operations and agronomy.

“That culture of safety is crucial for us. We make (safety) a part of everything we do because everyone wants to go home safely.”

Despite its growth, being family oriented remains at the core of Stamp Seeds and is a leading reason for placing such a high priority on establishing a culture of safety.

“For us, all of these people who come to work on our farm are our family, and we want to keep them safe,” said Richard.

Everyone working on the farm is involved in safety plans, which include mandatory safety meetings each month. They promote open communication among staff by encouraging everyone to speak up about any potential concerns or hazards.

“We tell everyone that if you’re driving one of our vehicles and there is a stop sign, if you don’t stop, you’re going to get fired — and that goes for me, too,” said Richard. “You need to talk about safety, but you also need to live it.

“It’s important to make safety a priority and invest the necessary time and work because it will pay off in the long run.”

The investment in safety goes beyond on-farm protocols. They are also mindful of their workers’ personal well-being, with a health benefits program among the initiatives introduced at the farm in recent years.

“If our employees take care of themselves, that in turn directly impacts what goes on at the farm,” said Nathan. “There is an important correlation between someone’s well-being — both physical and mental — and their work and safety on the farm.”

With a new generation at the helm, the farm will undoubtedly continue to evolve and grow in the years ahead, and that most certainly includes enhancing its culture of safety.

“Safety isn’t something you can get complacent about; you have to keep maintaining protocols and improving as things change,” said Nathan. “We strongly believe that if you can’t do a job safely, then it’s not worth doing.”

“You can always fix a truck, but you can’t fix people as easily,” added Richard.

The theme of this year’s Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, which takes place March 15-21, is Safe & Strong Farms: Grow an AgSafe Canada. For more information and farm safety resources, go to agsafetyweek.ca.

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And for the fire department in Clearwater County, it’s a premise that’s not only valued but also practised.

“Whenever we get an opportunity to educate and engage with the public as a fire department, we always take it because it is our one opportunity where we get to be proactive,” said Evan Stewart, assistant fire chief for the Clearwater Regional Fire Rescue Services, which serves 22,000 square kilometres in west-central Alberta.

Much of the area consists of agricultural land, so one of the fire department’s latest public outreach campaigns focused on the risks of grain entrapment. This past summer, the fire department made use of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association’s BeGrainSafe program. It provided firefighters with training on how to safely orchestrate a grain entrapment rescue using simulated situations in a controlled environment.

It was also an opportunity for public education.

“When it comes to grain entrapment, it is a high-risk, low-frequency occurrence where seconds and minutes count,” said Stewart. “It may not happen very often, but it is very high risk and the hazards are very real.”

Sadly, people in the area know all too well of the high risks associated with grain entrapment. In 2015, three young sisters — a 13-year-old and 11-year-old twins — from the area died when they became buried in canola seed.

“It hit our community pretty hard,” said Stewart. “It impacts our membership to this day because we have had to deal with the worst-case scenario. The (BeGrainSafe) program certainly helped to provide some of our members with some closure, as well as knowing that the department is taking those proactive steps to deal with those emergencies.”

The county approached the family of the three girls to ensure they would be comfortable with grain entrapment being put in the local public spotlight.

“The family was appreciative that the county, through the fire department, was being proactive and learning from a horrible tragedy,” he said.

While the BeGrainSafe training, which uses a mobile trailer to simulate an entrapment in flowing grain, was invaluable for the firefighters, Evan points out that the community outreach was equally important. The open house portion, which was held during a public market in Rocky Mountain House to optimize visibility, invited people to watch the firefighters practise rescue techniques and learn more about the risks of grain entrapment.

“We had hundreds of people attend and had very engaged members of the public asking great questions, saying that they were going to talk to their neighbours about (grain entrapment) because they hadn’t really realized the risks,” said Stewart.

Grain safety training and outreach will be an ongoing effort, he added. In addition to keeping a contingent of firefighters up to standards on grain rescue safety and equipment, the department will be looking to bring the BeGrainSafe program back in the near future to continue educating the community and change attitudes about grain safety.

“Encouraging a greater sense of safety in the local agriculture industry through education is definitely a priority for our fire department,” said Stewart, noting he has encouraged other fire departments serving farming communities to use the BeGrainSafe training.

The theme of this year’s Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, which runs March 10-16, is Safe & Strong Farms: Build an AgSafe Canada. For more information visit agsafetyweek.ca.

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