As your business ramps up after lockdown, investing in a COVID-19 health and safety policy now can protect your employees and pay dividends for at least the next few months. Following this guide can protect your coworkers and help prevent another lockdown due to an outbreak – it’s mutually beneficial.

Here, we’ll help you translate the CDC and OSHA COVID-19 guidelines into a plan of action that works for your specific situation, whether you’re looking to assess your current policy or create a new one from scratch.

Implementation Tip – Who Writes The Guidelines?

As the supervisor or boss, you are responsible for the safety and health of your employees in the workplace.

• your experience is valuable in creating guidelines that are tailored to your workplace and your needs

       AND

• your credibility is necessary to create a policy everyone can agree on and follow.

If you are unable to write the COVID-19 workplace guidelines yourself, make sure that you are heavily involved in the process and involve individuals who are qualified and experienced in health, safety, and human resources.

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:

The main goal of a safety and health program is to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities, as well as the suffering and financial hardships these events can cause workers, their families and your operation.  I believe we can all agree with that as the ideal. 

From the feedback we received from recent surveys, HR directors and safety managers are looking for more information on job hazard analysis and hazard identification.  I’m going to embark on a 4-part series addressing hazards to help further your understanding.  By reading this blog, you'll:

1.  have better insights into different aspects of hazard analysis 
2.  understand the role that hazard analysis play in a solid safety and health program. 

December is upon us and it’s time to look at your safety program for 2018. With everything you’ve accomplished in 2017, what is going to move your program forward for 2018? 

When I managed a fast growing company earlier in my career, goal setting made a crucial impact on the success. It forced me to look much further out into the future, envision where the company could go and create how we were going to get there. No matter where you are today with your safety program, moving your program forward is key to lowering workers’ compensation claims, improving employee safety IQ and having active participation in developing safety culture.

 Let’s look at 3 steps to consider when putting the 2018 goals and plans together.

It’s not uncommon to hear people say, “we are totally on board with safety training”, however their second statement is “but we can’t seem to get around to it”.  At the heart of this is procrastination. We all do it to some degree: putting off for tomorrow what should be started today.  We try to put things out of our minds but usually end up carrying the load subconsciously.

Regardless of the crops you grow, harvest season is one of the most hazardous times of the year.  There are a wide range of activities, extensive equipment operation, long hours, dust and chaff, multiple fire hazards, and time pressure that all increase the risk of injury.

Blended Learning refers to the use of a variety of training tools to maximize retention of the material.  It may include a broad range of techniques including pre-knowledge assessments, performance goals,          e-learning, live training, individual training, post-knowledge assessments and virtual or live coaching.

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.

What do driving ATVs, handling livestock pharmaceuticals and operating a dump trailer all have in common?

None of them has a formal OSHA safety standard.