Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, March 14 – 20, 2010

Ottawa– “A farm safety plan is an important part of a well developed farm business plan,” says Greg Stewart, FCC President and CEO. “Planning, protecting and investing in your health and safety and the safety of your employees is always a sound business decision.”

“Plan • Farm • Safety” is the theme of this three-year Canadian Agricultural Safety campaign. Each aspect of the theme will be promoted over the next three years. This year the campaign will promote "Plan" with safety walkabouts and planning for safety. In the second year, the focus will be on "Farm" including implementation, documentation and training. In the third year, emphasis will be on "Safety" including assessment, improvement and further development of safety systems.

The year-long “Plan” campaign will be launched with Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (CASW), from March 14 to 20. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) deliver CASW in partnership with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“Some producers feel that developing a farm safety program will create overwhelming paperwork – but that is not so,” says Marcel Hacault, CASA Executive Director. “The idea behind the theme “Plan • Farm • Safety.” is to offer a time period where farmers and ranchers can work with our campaign to go through the steps necessary to establish a practical farm safety program.”

Each year in Canada an average of 115 people are killed and at least 1,500 are hospitalized for farm-related incidents according to the Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting program (CAIR). In 2006 a total of 13,801 Canadian farms reported one or more medically treated or lost time injuries, reports Statistics Canada.

“Fatigue, trying to save time and miscommunication between workers are among the leading human factors that contribute to farm-related injuries,” explains Laurent Pellerin, CFA President. “Having a farm safety plan and training workers accordingly gives the clear message – working on my farm means working safely.”

According to CAIR, the two leading causes of death on Canadian farms are machinery and livestock. Looking at machinery-related deaths, tractors are by far the most dangerous, while handling bulls, horses and cows with calves causes the most deaths in non-machinery incidents.

How does your farm safety knowledge rate? Try taking the FCC Farm Safety Quiz at www.fccfarmsafety.ca .

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For more information call:
Theresa Whalen, CFA Farm Safety Consultant, T: (613) 822-0016 E: farmsafety@cfafca.ca
Free photos and cartoons are available to accompany this article at www.casa-acsa.ca and www.communitycontent.ca.