May 17, 2001

Manage Your Time for Safety, Specialist Says

As weather delays spring planting across the region, it becomes more important to schedule breaks and rest periods so that workers can continue to work at their peak, according to an agricultural safety specialist at North Dakota State University.

"As the season moves on, the pressure to get planting and other spring work finished increases. When agricultural workers need to get the most from themselves, stress, anxiety and worry helps the least," notes George Maher of the NDSU Extension Service.

But, these factors can be managed to make the planting season less stressful and less taxing, Maher says.

"About every two hours during tedious work everyone needs a break. Just a 10-minute break will leave a person refreshed and ready to get back to work," Maher says. "Those 10 minutes won’t set anyone back so much that they’ll never catch up. Quite the contrary, after a 10-minute refresher a worker will be able to work faster and more enthusiastically. This short amount of time will restore much of the productivity that was lost in two hours of continuous work."

It’s not as effective to take a break only whenever a few minutes are available, Maher notes, so schedule a 10-minute break for every two hours. "A scheduled break is much more effective at refreshing you. A scheduled break is anticipated, and that anticipation enhances the enjoyment and rest that is received," he says.

Repetitive work leads to a dulling of the senses, which results in accidents. Reaction time increases as your senses become tired due to overwork. "For that reason it is important to rotate the responsibilities that can be changed," Maher says.

"There may be some tasks on the farm that you think only you can do correctly," Maher says. "But being able to rotate tasks and keep everyone working at their peak is just one advantage of training others how to do those jobs. After all, what would happen if you were not there? Would the field preparation and planting get done as well? The team that is most efficient is the one that allows everyone to be able to do everything equally well. This also allows you, as a manager, to be able to see everything that is done and be able to make improvements."

Even during busy times such as the spring season, it is important to get enough sleep, Maher says. Differences in age, physical condition, level of activity, and individual metabolism account mean that the necessary amount of sleep varies from one person to the next. Every 24 hours, all humans need between six and eight hours of sleep. Those who claim to be able to work for greatly extended lengths of time without rest and perform well will pay for it sooner or later.

"A person becomes fatigued more quickly when he is short on sleep and is stressed. This makes him a danger to himself and others," Maher says.

Proper nutrition is also important during the stressful spring season, Maher notes. "A common belief is that high sugar-content foods are good for fighting off fatigue, but this works only for young people and for them it is still a poor practice." Nutrition studies demonstrate that consuming foods high in sugar actually increase a person’s drowsiness. For the long haul, everyone needs protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

"After a few days of poorly balanced meals a person’s mental sharpness as well as muscle tone become diminished. When the body is stressed at high levels of work a balanced diet becomes even more important than normal," Maher says.

Drugs, alcohol, and tobacco also have a powerful influence on work performance. Smokers usually claim that smoking will give them a boost, but actually they have a reduced work capacity right after smoking due to the more intense levels of carbon monoxide in their lungs and bloodstream, Maher notes. Many studies show that smoking will decrease a person's capacity to work. The carbon monoxide in the smoke reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen to muscles where it is needed. Some nervous individuals use tobacco to calm themselves, but this problem can usually be handled with prescription medication without the cancer risk.

"Studies and accident records show that alcohol has no place in the work area," Maher says. "As the amount of alcohol in the blood goes up, performance goes down. Some individuals claim that they are mentally sharper after consuming a small amount of alcohol, but it has been shown that performance is adversely affected. The thinking process is clouded and some brain cells are actually destroyed by alcohol consumption. Intoxicating beverages cannot add anything productive to the spring planting scene."

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Source: George Maher, (701) 231-8288, gmaher@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu

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