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Practicing safety basics on the farm must never be taken for granted.
Photo courtesy Canada Safety Council
Canada celebrating Farm Safety Week
Published 1:15 PDT, Mon March 15, 2021
Last Updated: 2:06 PDT, Mon March 15, 2021
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There’s never been a time when practicing safety has been more important.
Amid COVID-19 anxiety that continues to impact workers across Canada, the agricultural industry continues to face shifting priorities, juggling mitigation efforts and workforce impacts with a litany of daily chores, maintenance and upkeep.
During National Farm Safety Week—March 13 to 20—the Canada Safety Council and Workplace Safety and Prevention Services are reminding Canadians that farming continues to be one of the most hazardous industries in the country, and that safety needs to be prioritized in the workflow.
“It’s been a challenging year for many of us and the agricultural industry is no exception,” said Gareth Jones, president and CEO of the Canada Safety Council. “Maintaining a high standard of safety should be ever present and continually reinforced in farm environments. In an industry of constantly shifting priorities, it’s important to remember to brush up on the basics, too.”
The Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting estimates an average of 85 fatalities every year on the farm. The most common cause, overwhelmingly, is machinery—to the tune of 70 per cent of all deaths on the farm.
These can include machine rollovers, where a vehicle is improperly balanced on a hill and rolls on its side, striking either the operator or anyone who is nearby. They can also include machine runovers, where either a machine is left unmanned and rolls over its operator or the machine’s operator runs over someone in the vicinity.
“As a health and safety association dedicated to supporting the agricultural industry, we can’t highlight the importance of machine safety awareness on the farm enough,” says Lynn Brownell, president and CEO of Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS). “Among the leading causes of Ontario farm-related fatalities, run-overs and equipment rollovers continue to be tragic occurrences. WSPS is proud to partner with Canada Safety Council during National Farm Safety Week to bring awareness to this critical issue.”
Consult this Farm Safety Audit from the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture for a useful guide.
Workplace Safety & Prevention Services has an extensive selection of resources and factsheets for the agricultural industry, including a Farm Safety Checklist, COVID-19 resources, and a series of Farm Safety Instructional Videos.
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