Reading Time: 3 minutes Following your appointment as Alberta’s agriculture minister, you were praised for being “smart, grounded, and ‘a stand-up guy.’” Let’s hope everything I’ve read about you will prove true. But based on past experience, I am somewhat cynical, as I have asked your predecessors to take action on embedding effective farm safety within the elementary curricula… […] Read more
Opinion: An open letter to Agriculture Minister Devin Dreeshen
To be effective, farm safety education must be part of the regular curriculum in elementary schools
When we rush to help, we can put ourselves at risk
When livestock get into trouble, we need to consider how quickly a rescue mission can go wrong
Reading Time: 3 minutes The abundance of new life on the farm at this time of the year leads to a lot of antics on the part of animals. It is wonderful to watch the babies get busy with play we call ‘horsing around.’ Calves and foals are romping, the first chicks are peeping, the piglets are squealing. Big […] Read more
Get a grant to hold a Safety Day event
Reading Time: < 1 minute There’s still time to apply for funding to put on a Safety Day event this year for children in your area. Each year, communities across Canada host Safety Day events — reaching approximately 17,000 young people annually. Participants learn about the hazards and risks associated with farming and rural life. The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association […] Read more
Safety is the new norm at Will Farms
Elaine Bellamy says not having a farm safety plan is a risk you simply can’t afford
Reading Time: 4 minutes Elaine Bellamy suspected she had her work cut out for her when the provincial government announced its plans to improve farm safety in the fall of 2015. So in January 2016, just as the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act was coming into effect, Bellamy attended a workshop on creating a farm safety […] Read more
Online training for safe handling of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer
The popular fertilizer is a toxic and highly corrosive gas that needs to be treated with great care
Reading Time: < 1 minute Farmers can renew their training on the safe handling and use of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer through a newly updated safety manual and video put out by Fertilizer Canada. Anhydrous ammonia is classified as a dangerous good under federal regulations. It bears the number 2.3 (8) — 2.3 means it’s a toxic gas while the (8) […] Read more
Grain entrapment danger hits home in Clearwater County
Recent open house offered a chance for the public to learn more about the risks of grain entrapment
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s often said that to encourage change, you need to lead by example. 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 […] Read more
Big equipment and rural roads aren’t a great match
You can’t shrink your equipment but you can reduce the risk of a collision
Reading Time: 4 minutes When it comes to transporting agricultural equipment, bigger almost never means better. After all, equipment is getting larger but roads are staying the same size. There are also fewer drivers on the road who know how to respect and respond to these large, slow-moving vehicles. It’s a potentially fatal cocktail and farmers are getting worried. […] Read more
Safety is getting its turn in the spotlight
With new workplace regs in effect, there’s a lineup of producers wanting to make their farms safer
Reading Time: 4 minutes After a bit of a slow start, farmers are increasingly turning to AgSafe Alberta for help in reducing the risk of an accident on their operation. “It’s actually really busy — it’s gone from being very quiet to a wave,” said Jody Wacowich, the executive director of the non-profit society created by farm groups in […] Read more
Canadian farms are getting safer — but not fast enough
Safer machinery is saving lives, but farms remain dangerous places to work, says expert
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farms across Canada are becoming safer, but danger still abounds. “We are seeing fewer entanglement injuries and fewer deaths from rollovers — that’s where the big gains are on the technology and engineering side,” said Don Voaklander, director of the University of Alberta’s Injury Prevention Centre. “The other stuff is kind of the same. Falls […] Read more
Does your farm have a ‘safety helmet?’ It should
Taking a few simple steps can create an awareness of safety that is vital on every farm
Reading Time: 3 minutes Under a perfect fall sky, my grandson and I zigzagged the streets and zipped down back alleys of Montreal to the skate park. As I watched my grandson, his seven-year-old bravado struck me. It was a side of this sensitive boy that I had not seen so boldly displayed before. Confident and courageous, he jumped, […] Read more