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September
8, 2005
Practicing
Safety Vital in Agricultural Industry
Agriculture is a high-risk
industry, with an injury rate that competes with few others, according
to a North Dakota State University safety expert.
“It isn't enough
to just think and talk about farm safety today, it must be practiced,”
says George Maher, NDSU Extension Service agricultural safety specialist.
Sept. 18-24 is National
Farm Safety Week. It focuses attention on the safety and health concerns
of the less than 3 percent of the U.S. population who provide the food
and fiber for people in this and other countries.
“That makes
the food and fiber producers a very important group,” Maher says.
“A high injury rate in that group threatens their very existence,
and that in turn seriously threatens the source of food and fiber for
the balance of the national population.”
Everyone on the farm
continually needs to work at improving safety and health to reduce the
injury and illness rates, he adds.
Here are some reasons
he believes farming is such a high-risk job:
- Agriculture isn’t
the quiet, serene, healthy way of life it once may have been. Farming
is loaded with stress - managing a very heavy debt load for the amount
of return, laying the entire farming operation on the line subject to
the whims of the weather, the ever-changing global economies in marketing
produce and the national politics affecting production practices and
policies.
- Newer farm machinery
has many safety features that are effective in reducing the risks and
hazards of operation, such as safety interlocks, shields, sensors, improved
lighting, operator environment control and protective structures. But
most producers are making do with older machines, and injury rates with
that equipment are high.
- Increased exposure
to the chemical and biological hazards of agriculture affects the quality
of health for food and fiber producers. Many agricultural chemicals
that pose very serious health hazards have been removed from the market.
However, some still are available, and producers aren’t using
protective equipment to reduce their risk of exposure to those chemicals.
- Working with dense
populations of livestock increases the risk of contracting diseases
communicable from animals to humans.
- Exposure to organic
dusts and microbes associated with crop production can create health
problems.
Working in agriculture
today is a good way of life, and practicing safety will keep producers
on the farm or ranch, Maher says.
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Source:
George Maher, (701) 231-8288, gmaher@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ecrawfor@ndsuext.nodak.edu
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