Reading Time: 3 minutes It was a long and tough winter on the Prairies. Once the sun shone, tractors were serviced, calves were born, cattle sorted, chickens hatched, seeds sown — I delighted in watching the many posts and videos that families shared during this time of rebirth on the farm. And then it hit me. Most included a […] Read more
I can’t change the past, but I wish I could
Taking the kids along when working has long been seen as part of farming, but that needs to change
The surprising hazard lurking at your feet
Slips and trips are commonplace ingredients in a large number of workplace accidents
Reading Time: 2 minutes Working safely with equipment gets a lot of attention — and rightly so — when it comes to preventing accidents on the farm. But there are also major hazards lurking by your feet, and this, too, is something you should think about before starting any building project on the farm. Falls account for one in […] Read more
Want the Rural Safety Unit to visit your community?
Reading Time: < 1 minute Agriculture for Life has launched an all-new Rural Safety Unit, which will travel to schools, communities, fairs, festivals and other events to educate, encourage, and promote rural and farm safety. The unit has seven interactive stations dealing with hazard identification, large animals, large equipment, utilities, risk assessment, chemicals, and protective equipment. It will operate from […] Read more
‘Realistic, simple and doable’ is key to farm safety plan
Alberta AgSafe modelled on B.C. program that makes listening the cornerstone of its approach
Reading Time: 5 minutes A safer farm begins with three questions, says a longtime farm safety consultant in B.C. What’s the problem? What have you done about it? How can you prove it? “We’re pretty good at ‘a’ and ‘b’ – we recognize the problem and we try to fix it, although sometimes we take shortcuts or monkey-fix it,” […] Read more
Farmer-led AgSafe program helps producers tackle farm safety issues
Farm Safety Week: The program is free, designed to be practical, and can be tailored for individual farms
Reading Time: 4 minutes Better farm safety can start with small steps. Even a simple act like hanging a sign can play an important role in preventing a disaster. “We have these lockout tags that say ‘Lockout. DO NOT OPERATE,’” said Donna Trottier, extension co-ordinator of the AgSafe Alberta program. “There was an incident a farmer told me about. […] Read more
The devil is in the wording when it comes to farm safety regulations
Farmer input needed before new OHS rules are enforced, says AgSafe Society chair
Reading Time: 3 minutes Progress has been made in getting the provincial government to adopt sensible, practical workplace safety rules for farms, but there’s still work to do, says the chair of the AgSafe Society of Alberta. “There’s some language in the technical wording of the legislation that can be hard to explain and figure out how they practically […] Read more
Temper tantrums: There’s way too much drama on some farms
A Facebook post on hand signals prompted an outpouring of comments from farm women subjected to angry tirades
Reading Time: 4 minutes This summer, a young female farmer posted the following message on Facebook: My husband is the worst ever at hand signals. Ten yrs. farming together and I still have no freaking clue what he is trying to signal to me. It would help if he actually used conventional signals and not his own secret signal […] Read more
Walk the safety talk — literally
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Agriculture is reminding farmers to do a full inspection on any equipment they plan to use, including a walkabout, before turning it on. That should include a “full 360-degree walk” around equipment and “looking for damage, excessive wear, loose or missing bolts, debris build-up, damaged or missing safety signs, leaks, tire inflation and fluid […] Read more
Plan for your children’s safety on the farm
Here are some guidelines for creating a ‘hazard-free’ play area
Reading Time: 2 minutes Children “often perceive the farm as a big playground filled with endless opportunities to explore” and parents need to plan accordingly, says a provincial farm safety youth co-ordinator. “Unfortunately, they don’t always recognize the serious dangers that are often lurking around the farmyard,” said Janice Donkers. “Most rural parents want their kids to enjoy life […] Read more
PHOTOS: Kids learn a lesson about farm safety and machinery
The look on their faces said it all
Reading Time: < 1 minute Rural youth got an up-close and dramatic demonstration on what happens when clothing snags on a power takeoff shaft. A dummy stuffed with newspapers explodes in a millisecond — drawing gasps from the young onlookers. More than 750 students from rural Alberta attended Farm Safety Day, which is sponsored by AltaLink, at Calgary’s Stampede Park […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
