The average farmer and rancher in Alberta spends a significant amount of time working alone. Some tasks are even designed to be done alone. But this leaves us especially vulnerable to on-farm accidents causing injury or even death.

That is why it is crucial for farmers and ranchers to take the time, before another busy spring, to consider the risks involved in operations and put appropriate safety plans in place.

I encourage you to recognize Canadian Agricultural Safety Week by doing just that — setting your operation up for another safe and productive year.

Why do risks increase so much when working alone? The real danger comes from being in an emergency without the ability to call for help.

For example, have you ever thought about what would happen if you became caught in or trapped under a piece of equipment you had to stop and repair in the middle of a field? Or if you had a medical emergency, such as a heart attack, triggered by working long hours in the heat, that left you incapacitated?

In either situation, how would you get help and how long would it take for help to arrive? Would anyone know where you were? If you couldn’t call for help, how long would it be before someone went looking for you? Even if you were able to call, would assistance be readily available?

I don’t mention these scenarios to scare you, but rather to get you thinking about the things that could go wrong so you can be as prepared as possible.

Steps to take

The good news is that there are easy steps to ensure you are prepared and to manage risks in all situations.

I encourage you to start by identifying work-alone situations on your operation and what measures you’ll take to address the hazards. These measures might include:

• Making sure you can complete the task at hand safely, which means you have the knowledge and experience to do so, and are physically and mentally able (i.e., not overly tired or stressed).
• Ensuring you have a tested, reliable means of communication with you (e.g., a cellphone that is fully charged and strong cell service in the area where you’ll be working). If you aren’t in an area with strong cell service, use an alternative communication method such as a satellite phone or two-way radio.
• Making sure you have more than enough water, food and fuel to get the job done and return home safely.
• Designating a contact person and establishing a check-in schedule.
• When possible, avoiding inherently dangerous tasks while working by yourself, such as climbing a bin, working in a confined space or handling chemicals. If you must do these tasks alone, make sure you have a safety plan in place if things go wrong.
• Identifying a secure place where you could take shelter if needed.
• Training workers on working alone and ensuring that only trained workers with enough experience are ever working alone.
• Checking that first-aid kits, fire extinguishers, reflective triangles and other seasonal roadside emergency kits are ready for use and with you at all times.
• Knowing how to get emergency services to where you are working (such as the rural address, legal land description and/or GPS co-ordinates of the location) in case something happens.

When it comes to safety planning, the first step is always to think ahead.

Please start thinking ahead before another busy season starts for the agriculture industry here in Alberta. If you need help with your safety planning, reach out to us any time for assistance.

– Jody Wacowich is the executive director of AgSafe Alberta.

The post Include safety in your plans before you work alone this spring appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Over the past 11 years in the province, an average of just over 15 people have lost their lives each year on farms. Most were the owner/operators of the farm.

We urge you to make a commitment now, to keep yourself, your family and your employees safe. This can start with being aware of the most pressing threats on your farm at each time of the year.

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Did you know that falls were one of the most common types of incidents on Alberta farms last year? Now can be a dangerous time of year for falls because constantly changing weather conditions can make it easy to fall when walking across the yard or from a height while checking grain bins.

I want to focus on grain bins specifically, because two of the 11 fatalities last year were falls from a grain bin and both were an owner/operator on that farm.

Grain bins are much bigger than they used to be, with some reaching as high as 60 feet. However, even a fall from less than 10 feet can be fatal or cause serious injury.

The Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Code requires other industries to have a fall protection plan in place when a worker may fall three metres or more and the worker is not protected by guard rails. Although this part of the code does not directly apply to farmers and ranchers, you are still required to take measures to ensure individuals working at heights are protected as far as reasonably possible.

The other significant component to these injuries is that they often happen when the person is working alone.

[RELATED] Take it personally — and make a commitment, says farm safety expert

This means the person may have to wait a long time for help to arrive. It is important to let people know where you are working and have a check-in plan. Even better, have someone come along when possible.

Based on these two points, we are asking farmers and ranchers to take time this winter, before climbing bins or any other height on the farm, and ask the following questions: 

1. Is there any corrosion or other factors that may impact the ladders attached to the bins? 
2. Is the person climbing trained to climb? Is there any other factor that may impact their ability to climb (including people taking medication or substances that may make them dizzy, people with physical weakness or severe arthritis, and those experiencing illness that affects their balance or makes them dizzy)? 
3. If you have employees or contractors who need to climb, have you ensured their safety as far as reasonably practicable (i.e., performed hazard assessments and put appropriate hazard-control measures in place)? 

Going beyond grain bins, as the year ends and winter finds us with a little more time inside, now is a great time to make farm safety a priority for your operation and to map out a plan to make improvements for the new year.

If you don’t know where to begin, reach out to us for assistance. 

I wish you all a safe and happy winter season.

Jody Wacowich is the executive director of AgSafe Alberta. The organization’s November newsletter has an article detailing the hazards posed by grain bin ladders. The article also has a list of eight steps that can be taken to reduce the risk. It can be found at agsafeab.ca (click on the Newsletter tab).

The post Opinion: Hiding in plain sight – hazards posed by grain bins appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Ben was 16 years old and proud to be given a job that was usually assigned to someone older and more experienced.

The job was to bring the tractor and small hay baler back home from a nearby field.

It seemed safe: He wouldn’t have to travel far on the two-lane, paved road and he was both comfortable and experienced operating the tractor.

A motorist who witnessed the accident later described what had happened: The passenger-side wheels of the tractor and baler were partially on the gravel shoulder of the road. The tractor suddenly moved to the right towards the steeply banked ditch, where it began to overturn. Ben tried to get away from the tractor, but ended up jumping in the same direction that it was rolling.

The motorist went to help Ben and found him pinned beneath the tractor. Emergency services were called and another person also stopped. Rescuers made attempts to lift the tractor off the boy and dig him out from underneath but couldn’t free him.

Despite everyone’s efforts, Ben died at the scene.

Sadly, the story of Ben (not his real name) is true.

Rollovers continue to be the second most common cause of death on farms in Canada (second only to runovers), and are the leading cause of death in farmers 60 years of age and older.

Unexpected things can happen to all of us — even the most experienced farmer, as the previous statistic shows. These unexpected things happen too often because there is too much to get done, and not enough time or people to do it.

When we are this busy, we don’t recognize the risk involved in what we are going to do. We don’t think about what could go wrong and how bad it could be. Sometimes we overestimate our skills and abilities, and worse, those of our children and employees.

What you probably already know as well is that those who live to tell about it often talk about that one thing they could have done differently.

In my work, I always find it extremely sad when producers in these situations tell us they had thought about improving farm safety but didn’t know where to start. This is heartbreaking to hear from someone who has lost a family member, friend, or employee as the result of an incident that is both common on farms and preventable.

I know that Alberta farmers and ranchers want to become safer, but are struggling to make health and safety fit into their current operations, partially because they think it would require a lot of time and money.

In an effort to address this issue, AgSafe Alberta has developed the FARMERS CARE Level 1 program.

It is designed to help anyone who lives or works on a farm to identify that one thing before something bad happens.

It is a simple and practical approach to health and safety that has been created specifically for agricultural producers, and it focuses on risks they face. There is no cost to do this, the information is relevant to all farm types and sizes, and it can be completed in under two hours using a laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

It doesn’t matter where your operation is currently at with regards to health and safety, what matters is that you start to do something about it, and FARMERS CARE Level 1 is a great place to begin. The less than two hours you spend could save you a lifetime of regret.

Visit take11.ca and get started today.

The post Opinion: Taking some small steps can make your farm much safer appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

We all hoped we would have moved past this point by now — and while we are getting closer, we are not there yet.

With all the (rightful) attention being given to COVID concerns and safety practices, I do have something else that keeps me up at night. It is a concern that I hope would occupy all your minds, as well.

Our industry has become a lot safer in recent decades, a trend that farmers and our communities deserve a lot of credit for. Unfortunately, we also know that farm accidents are still occurring, in numbers that demand our attention and warrant our concern.

Let’s face it — the work we do can be dangerous.

We work, often alone, with large-scale and often complex machinery as well as with other equipment that can cause injury and animals that can behave in sudden and unexpected ways. There are not always safety protocols and mechanisms in place, or followed, on farms. We work long days and long hours during busy seasons — and carry an uncommonly high amount of stress.

While we often think we work safely, as we get tired or stressed we pay less attention to safety.

As seeding kicks into high gear and ranches are calving and branding, we can find ourselves getting busy and getting stressed. And that is when accidents happen. In fact, we see injuries spike on farms and ranches in May and June.

So with this in mind, I encourage all of our farming communities to do a couple of things.

First, as you welcome staff and contractors back onto your operations this spring, take a moment to stop and refresh them about best practices for moving animals and equipment.

Take time to ensure that they are oriented so that everyone is working with ‘common knowledge’ (which is much better than common sense). Remember these people are the most valuable assets to your operation, so protect them as effectively as you can.

Second, don’t forget all those COVID-19 practices you put in place last spring either.

As cases climb, we want to make sure everyone gets through this season healthy and is able to get all their farm tasks done in time.

At AgSafe Alberta, we have several resources available to help keep yourself, your staff, and your family safe on the farm and ranch in the next couple of months. We also have specific safety tips and guidelines related to a lot of areas that will be relevant in coming months, including seeding, equipment and machinery management, fatigue, calving and branding and more. Visit agsafeab.ca for all of these.

As always, our team at AgSafe Alberta is here to help. We are a free service for all Alberta farmers and ranchers, so please reach out to us any time for help with any farm safety needs.

Good luck and stay safe!

Jody Wacowich is the executive director of AgSafe Alberta.

The post Opinion: You say safety is a priority, but the stats tell a different story appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

It’s an optimistic time, with a new year bringing resolutions and a sincere hope for life to be better and brighter.

But it’s also a dark and slow month on the Canadian Prairies — especially in the rural areas, on the often quieter farms so many of us call home. This year, the slow months will be even slower, as we find ourselves in the midst of another round of COVID-19 shutdowns that have impacted who we see and how we feel.

Farmers are always at higher risk for health and safety incidents but now we need to add mental health to this list too.

So now, as we are all contemplating our plans for the year, I am urging our rural communities to make farmer health and farm safety a top priority this year, because despite what some of us believe, we are more at risk now than ever before.

Yes, in a longer-term scope, the amount of farm accidents and deaths are still significant.

But the numbers are still significant enough to merit our attention and response. In 2019 there were still 16 deaths in Alberta resulting from farm accidents — which is 16 too many.

Yes, our industry has become better at creating, regulating and enforcing better safety systems.

But the fact remains that we work in hazardous environments, with large-scale and complicated equipment, often by ourselves or with few others. We are often self-directed, meaning less stringent safety guidelines or structures in place. Our work days are long and we get tired, especially in busy seasons. We have so many stressors. And more importantly, safety is just not always our top priority.

Last year, a study published in the Journal of Agromedicine showed a decline in the quality of Canadian media coverage of farm accidents between 2010 and 2017, with less detail given about the accidents and, more importantly, how they could have been prevented.

Furthermore, in recent years farmers’ mental health has really become a focus.

We have learned that farmers suffer from higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression and emotional exhaustion than other industries. At the same time, there is a deep-rooted resistance in our rural communities to talk about these issues. In fact, according to Do More Ag, 40 per cent of Canadian farmers reported that they would resist seeking help for mental health issues because of public perception.

These are alarming trends and ones that require our attention.

At AgSafe Alberta, our mission is to support a culture of safety on farms and ranches in the province through information, education and training.

This winter, we are rolling out several initiatives to help Alberta farmers keep safety top of mind this year.

Earlier this month we launched Take 11, a campaign to encourage farmers to take 11 seconds before starting a new task to note potential hazards and how they will control them. The FARMERS CARE acronym reflects the most dangerous situations on farms today.

We are also hosting a series of webinars in the coming months outlining everything farmers need to be mindful of these days as we head into another growing season, including current OHS regulations, COVID considerations and how to design a safety plan customized for your farm. Finally, we have a suite of resources available on our website and one of our farm safety advisers is always available to help you with your farm safety questions and concerns.

We urge you to join us in making 2021 a safe year for all farms across Alberta.

Jody Wacowich is the executive director of AgSafe Alberta. For more information on the webinars or to sign up, go to agsafeab.ca and click on the AgSafe Speaker Series link. The webinars will be recorded for later viewing.

The post Opinion: Pandemic stress and exhaustion are taking a toll on our farms appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Whenever a new agriculture-specific bill is adopted, you rightfully ask, ‘How does this apply to me?’

Rarely are there easy answers, especially when they come in the form of legislation that is long, wordy, and, let’s be honest, not that fun of a read.

A recent example of this is the Alberta government’s Farm Freedom and Safety Act, which came into full effect on Jan. 31. The act brings in new rules and regulations regarding insurance coverage, who is considered a worker, and a farmers’ rights and responsibilities to their employees.

But, what does that mean in practical terms? Where does one go to get this information?

Look no further, AgSafe Alberta is here to help.

Led by a supporting membership of 26 crop and livestock producer groups, our goal is to assist farming operations in establishing practical farm safety management systems. A major part of this work involves supporting producers in navigating how things like the Farm Freedom and Safety Act will impact you and your workers. As a farm owner, operator, or manager, we appreciate that knowing how legislation can affect your farm and your employees is a difficult task to manage on top of the day-to-day tasks of actually running a farm.

As your go-to source for safety, here is what we see as the major changes in this now-in-effect legislation.

One major change with the new act is that for farms with five or fewer employees, Workers’ Compensation Board coverage is now optional. Although no longer mandatory, this does not necessarily mean that it is something that you should ignore. The reality is that not having insurance coverage means that if an employee gets hurt on your farm, they have the option to sue you and bring on a costly lawsuit to your operation.

Another major portion to navigate is knowing who is actually considered a worker.

Under the legislation, a farm worker is considered someone who is not a family member, a volunteer (such as a neighbour or a friend), or a contractor. Therefore, in the case of exclusively family-run farms, they would not fall under the category of having farm workers on them.

With the right approach, this legislation does have the potential to bring more freedom in choice for producers regarding how they want to develop the safety program on their farm. AgSafe Alberta can help make sure that these options are clear and that you know what your rights and responsibilities are when it comes to insurance, employment standards and OHS rules.

Family farms are still exempt from any OHS requirements, although we do encourage you to consider implementing safety on your farms, even if it’s not mandated by law. If you have non-family waged workers on your operation you will be required to follow the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act but will be exempt from the regulations and the code.

Applying the best safety management practices can be a proactive way to prevent incidents on your farm and to create the documentation needed if OHS visits your farm due to a complaint or incident. This is where we can help, too.

AgSafe Alberta has just released the new and improved Alberta FarmSafe Plan. This manual and accompanying workbook are a starting point to develop your own health and safety management system catered to your own operation. The workbook and manual are there to help establish guidelines on farm for a more efficient, effective, and safer workplace.

As the new farm workplace legislation emphasizes, each farm is unique, and a customized safety plan is needed in order to meet the needs of each individual operation. The FarmSafe Plan is fully customizable to your needs and includes electronic courses for employees to take as well.

Farm safety legislation can be difficult to manoeuvre, but with the right tools to understanding it, it can create and enhance a culture of safety for your employees and family.

We are here to help you make that happen.

Jody Wacowich is the executive director of AgSafe Alberta.

The post Opinion: What does Alberta’s Farm Freedom and Safety Act mean for you? appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.