Farm Safety

News Articles

The Busiest Time Of Year Can Be Deadliest On The Farm
Farmers understand that the days are getting shorter. As a result, pressure to complete harvesting is growing. However, statistical trends clearly demonstrate that the period from late August to early November produces the most work-related farm fatalities.

Overhead Power Lines Can Produce Shocking Results
"Farmers should protect themselves, their families and their workers by knowing the clearance from the ground to the lowest overhead electrical conductors in their farmyard, adjacent to their fields and across their municipal road," said Manitoba's provincial farm safety co-ordinator.

Be Seen, Be Safe When Moving Farm Equipment On Manitoba Highways and Municipal Roads
Motorists on highways and municipal roads are often challenged in estimating how fast a piece of farm machinery is moving and how much of the roadway it occupies. When those estimates are wrong, collisions occur and serious injuries and deaths can result.

Controlling Farm Worker Exposure To Domestic Farm Animal Diseases
There are numerous diseases, which humans can contract from animals or animal products such as unpasteurized milk and cheese, unprocessed hides and blood, and body fluids. "However, the risk of human infection with "zoonotic" diseases such as tuberculosis, hantavirus, Q Fever, anthrax, West Nile Virus and recently Avian Influenza can be largely minimized by consistently using standard, safe livestock and poultry handling practices," said Dr. Ted Redekop, chief occupational medical officer for Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health.

Farmers Urged To Ensure Machinery Stays Up
In several instances in recent years when nothing was in place to keep a truck box or cultivator raised, the result was a fatality or serious injury, warned Glen Blahey, provincial farm safety co-ordinator.

Farmers Warned That Flowing Grain Can Be Like Quicksand
"An eight-inch diameter grain auger can move enough grain in less then 10 seconds to cause an adult standing on top of the grain to become totally submerged," said Glen Blahey, provincial farm safety co-ordinator, adding, "If that is the case, children are clearly at an even greater risk."

Large Farm Equipment Possess Safety Hazards
There were no serious injuries or deaths when 67 pieces of farm machinery made contact with overhead power lines in 2002, but the number of incidents confirms that those moving machinery often don't know the dimensions of their equipment or the clearance space under overhead lines.

Precautions Must Be Taken To Ensure Earth Walls In Excavations Don't Collapse: Safety Officials
Most excavators know that the walls of holes dug in the ground will collapse if the proper precautions are not taken, but provincial government officials point out that problems still occur frequently enough that fire departments across Manitoba have specially trained personnel to rescue people when excavations give way.

Worker Health and Bio-Security
Bio-security protocols offer the livestock industries an increased level of food safety and production stability. Many of the practices outlined in bio-security protocols also, protect worker health. Additional safety provisions for workers will enhance both herd / flock health and public health. It is important that anyone entering into or working at a livestock facility understand the need for following additional precautions, to protect their own health as well as that of others which the worker may come into contact with after leaving the barn.

Increased Risk of Injury When Handling Large Bales
Transporting and handling large bales of hay can pose significant risk of injury if proper handling precautions are not taken. Several serious incidents, including fatalities have occurred when large bales of hay were being handled without proper precautions.