Nationwide, a U.S. farm insurer tallied up three years of agribusiness claims and released their top 10 commercial agribusiness claims in 2017.  The top 10 list accounted for 50,000+ claims. Leading the list was motor vehicle accidents!  Motor vehicles accidents accounted for more than 20,000 claims.  The most frequent accidents were rear end accidents, backing into vehicles and accidental strike of stationary object. 

Farmers and their equipment share the road with the motoring public. Both have visions on how the road best serves them.  This blog addresses areas a farm manager can control for safe traveling this fall.

What do these infamous calamities have in common: the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and The Challenger Explosion? Each of them happened when the crews had been at work for hours and were sleep deprived and fatigued, leading to the mistakes that caused them. These events serve as tragic reminders that sleep is an essential part of staying safe at work. 

Every year, falls from grain bins, silos, and grain dryers cause serious injuries and even fatalities. While less frequent than other kinds of falls in agriculture, the consequences of grain bin falls are usually more severe. Here are important things to be aware of when implementing grain bin safety. 

Do you dread the dust from harvest? Do you end up feeling stuffed up, with a runny nose, a cough, and generally crappy? 

As we prepare for harvest time, it's important to keep combine fire prevention as one of our priorities. Do you know the basics of fire, the different types of fire extinguishers, and best practices? Let's review.

Manure pits are changeable and unpredictable. This is the time of year that we need to be assessing the dangers of working in manure pits and brush up on our knowledge of hazardous gases. During late summer and fall there is increased risk as producers are emptying pits, so it's very important that everyone who works in or around manure storage (tanks, pits, and lagoons) understands how to identify hazardous gases and the proper procedures for working in them. 

There is a lot riding on the correct grade of hitch pin that links the implement to the tractor or truck. In fact, the hitch pin is a critical component in keeping control of implements we pull. More often than not a hitch pin is selected based on its diameter and length. Rarely is strength the top consideration. 

According to Fred Whitford, Purdue University, the bent hitch pins pictured below indicates that somebody got lucky!  A bent pin is a sign you needed something stronger, so pitch them before they get used during harvest because they're handy.  Better yet....pitch them so they never get used again. It may be just fine in the field, however, you open yourself up to much more risk when you take equipment on roadways.  

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: