Note: The following is an excerpt from an article published in the November 2015 issue of Feedlot Magazine.
Let’s face it. Common sense isn’t so common anymore. We used to hire kids off the farm who would clock in on day one already knowing how to run equipment, work cattle and stay out of the way when things got dicey. Now, we have to teach them everything under the sun and pray they can figure out the rest.
Unfortunately, in spite of all that, the industry still suffers its share of feedlot accidents. We hear about employees being run over by feed trucks, dragged by horses, thrown off ATVs or pinched while working cattle. Some accidents cause minor injuries and maybe a brief hospital stay, while others lead to devastating fatalities.
The cost of these accidents escalates along with the cost of medical care. By comparison, the average expense of a chainsaw accident in 1985 was about $3,850. Today, it’s around $55,000—not counting lost wages, disability payments, increased insurance costs and lost productivity.
Safety Pays
These astronomical costs directly and indirectly tied to feedlot accidents are why many operations are considering formal employee-safety training. Granted, such training isn’t cheap, but it pays better dividends than any other workplace instruction.
In fact, the Ag Safety and Health Council of America found that, for every $1.00 spent on safety training, we get between $4.00 and $6.00 back through significant reductions in injuries, workers' comp premiums, lost labor and OSHA fines—while also gaining higher employee productivity.
And what about those OSHA fines? Are they becoming more prevalent in the beef industry? And what can feedlots do to protect themselves?
Read the rest of the article in Feedlot Magazine’s November issue, available now online.
