Vehicle and Machinery Farm Safety
Farm equipment greatly increases the efficiency and productivity of your operation, but it introduces some deadly hazards at the same time. In fact, 70% of agricultural fatalities are machine related whether it is a machine rollover, a run over, or entanglement.
While it is important to have equipment operators who are fully trained, it's also critical that other workers, visitors and children on your farm are aware of the equipment you are running and the potential dangers. Our goal is to help raise awareness and help to prevent accidents by highlighting some very important equipment safety tips.
Operator Training:
It’s critical that all equipment operators are properly trained to run your farm equipment. Employers are responsible for providing proper training and they can be held criminally liable for injuries and fatalities.
What’s in your blind spot?
A quick walk around all farm vehicles before you start up the equipment ensures no children, small animals or debris are hiding in your blind spots.
Impaired Driving:
Driving while impaired is dangerous, whether you are using a car or a tractor. Impaired Driving is more than driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Fatigue, emotional stress or using a cell phone are all forms of impaired driving.
What’s your safety plan?
A dedicated safety plan, complete with expectations and emergency procedures will go a long way to ensuring your kids and seasonal workers stay safe.
Equipment Safeguards:
Establish effective safeguards for all your farm equipment. Agricultural safeguarding helps to prevent against injuries such as pinching, punctures, burns, amputations, electrical shock, blindness and even fatalities.
How can we help?
Use our online training to put a plan together for establishing agricultural safeguarding and emergency procedures.
The information in this article was taken from Vehicle and Machinery Safety on the Farm Published on CanadianSafetyCouncil.org March 2013. Click here to read the original article.