During busy seasons, farm safety can take a backseat to other business priorities critical to success. However, safety needs to be part of your critical success factor. Just one accident could affect your ag operation personally and financially, especially if it could have been prevented. Plan your pre-harvest training and safety meeting now to set tone for how your agribusiness will operate for the remainder of the year.

Small to medium Ag producers across the United States are realizing the need to start incorporating safety into their business culture & framework. This need is due to many factors, some of the top being increasingly heightened consequences of an accident: larger medical bills, higher risk of lawsuit, and increased fines from OSHA. Even just a single accident is much more risky and expensive today. Not to mention the emotional impact to your business and community around you.

When selecting and building a safety training program, it’s largely agreed that a single system is most effective, especially for tracking. While that’s a top priority, we’ve often found 2 other factors that are overlooked when it comes to effective safety training:

Are you intimidated or confused by OSHA’s requirements for recording and reporting incidents? Maybe you just had an incident and aren’t sure what to next. First off, take a deep breath. It will be ok. This post is meant to start answering your questions about recordables and reportables. We’ll break down both and help you understand who and what is required for each.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 570 people died from work-related injuries in agriculture in 2011. That’s 7 times the fatality rate for all workers in the private sector! Safety is an important topic in the agricultural industry. That being said, it’s no wonder OSHA has regulations that are meant to keep people safe specifically in agriculture. While some farms are exempt from OSHA regulations, did you know there are a few requirements that apply across the board? No matter if you employ 10 or less people total, or only employ immediate family, OSHA requires that both exempt and non-exempt operations abide by these rules.

Grain augers are a necessity on many agricultural operations and deserve a high level of attention due to the many safety risks associated with them. Common injuries include amputations, entanglements, electrocution, lacerations, and broken bones. Which is why augers have been recognized to be one of the more dangerous pieces of equipment per hour of use. 

During harvest, you have a huge amount of work to do within a very short window of time. Put yourself in the best position possible for a safe harvest season by being prepared. Here are some safety tips to think about before harvest and field operations.

When you and your harvest crew gear up for fall harvest, we hope you first follow our tips on how to prep your farm for this season. After you have, take a look at these common combine hazards, so you're as safe as possible on the job.

Harvest is a time when many different types of powered equipment will be used and will need to be serviced and repaired. If you’re the person responsible for servicing or repairing a piece of equipment, you want that “peace of mind” knowing that nobody could accidently startup the equipment while you’re working on it.  There is only one way to assure your safety and the safety of employees…. that is with a Lockout-Tagout (LOTO) program.

Your farm-safety program doesn’t have to be complicated, but, for it to work, everyone in the operation needs to buy into it. These seven steps will help you convince managers and employees to take ownership of the safety program and drive the safety agenda.