It’s easy to get into a normal, daily routine during which we as workers just go through the motions.
Those moments, however, are when it’s most important to think safety first.
This goes for everyone in every workplace, but particularly on farms. Long, summer days potentially mean longer working days for our farmers and possibly an increased chance of injury.
Several accidents and tragedies have affected our local and regional areas lately.
A young man working on a farm in Minto fell from a barn rafter, suffering serious injuries. A toddler was killed in North Perth when a piece of farming equipment fell on him. A farm worker in Brownsville was working on a jammed auger when the machine started up and pulled him in. Each year, several farmers fall into grain bins and suffocate.
It’s not all bad news. According to a 2009 report from the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, those working in the agricultural field are improving their safety practices.
“Fatal agricultural injury data from 1990 to 2005 show the safety record on Canadian farms is improving,” read the report. “Based on the most recent report from the Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program (CAISP), the number of people killed on farms in Canada has declined during the past 16 years.
According to CAISP data, there were fewer fatal injuries among children in Canada aged one to 14 and among adults 15 to 59.
Even so, we must be vigilant in safe work habits. Our Minto farmers provide the public with a tremendous service, work long hours, stock our markets, and routinely operate large, potentially dangerous equipment. We want them and their families to be as safe as possible on their operations.
Studies by Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting provided some interesting information on the subject:
• Generally speaking, two out of three farm fatalities (60 per cent) tend to be the owner-operator. The remainder tend to be: a child of the owner-operator (15 per cent); a hired worker (12 per cent); a relative (eight per cent); or the owner-operator’s spouse (three per cent), with the remaining two per cent being other visitors.
• A 12-year study determined there was significant variation in cost for each injury type. The cost for premature death was greatest at $274,573, followed by a permanent disability injury at $142,553. The cost per hospitalized occurrence was $10,144 and $695 per non-hospitalized incident. The study calculated direct costs, including hospital care, physician services, drugs and rehabilitation, as well as indirect costs such as loss of productivity and costs associated with living with a permanent disability as a result of injury.
• Studies indicate that tractor rollovers cause one in five work-related farm fatalities. While rollovers are the number one farm-related killer, its low injury rating indicates that few people survive a rollover incident.
• While tractors and other machinery are the most productive equipment on a farm, they are also the most efficient killers. Two of the leading causes of death on Canadian farms are machinery and livestock. For machinery, tractors are by far the worst for rollovers, run-overs and entanglements. For non-machinery, the most risky activity is livestock handling – particularly bulls, horses and cows with calves.

No matter what your line of work, do it safely and to the best of your ability. Suffering injury or even death is preventable, often just by using extra caution.
- S.B.