Your National Safety Month Survival Guide

Just like CPR and cardiac care, road safety is uniquely important to farmers, crash fatality rates in rural communities are more than double those in urban areas, accounting for 5.2 deaths per 100,000 each year. Tractor rollovers account for one of every three farm worker fatalities, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Anytime you ask a farmer about safety, they’ll usually say that it’s a year-round job and a top priority, and while that’s certainly true, safety is all too often the first line item to get cut or pushed down the calendar.

June is National Safety Month, and aims not only to refocus our attention on the safety and health risks operators face every day, but also aims to provide insight into what can be done better to prevent mishaps.

Summer is here, which means harvest season is right around the corner, and while safety is indeed a year-round effort, June is where we might say the safety fiscal year technically begins.

Week 1: Emergency Preparedness

The first week of National Safety Week focuses on preparing for the unexpected by developing, and regularly reviewing, emergency response plans. Establishing and practicing evacuation procedures, first-aid training and establishing communication protocols for emergencies like fires, severe weather events and medical incidents are what the National Safety Council suggests for your team in the field.

The focus of safety month’s first week is National CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Awareness Week, spotlighting how lives can be saved if more workers on farms knew CPR and how to use an AED.

On any farm, time is everything, and that goes for project timelines as much as for cardiac-related incidents. However, this week should be of particular interest to the 3.3 million farmers in the U.S. More than 90% are older than 35, with nearly half of those farmers being 65 or older — and the demographic is only trending older. The 35-65 age range has declined 10% since 2017, while the 65-plus age group increased 12% over the same period.

Research suggests that although farmers are generally healthier than the general population, they experience higher rates of cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in farmers between the ages of 45-65 years old.

Week 2: Hazard Recognition

Week two of safety month is focused on roadway safety, with a particular focus on eliminating the next generation of hazards by refining what working safely will look like while finding solutions to help eliminate on-site risks before they become so.

Just like CPR and cardiac care, road safety is uniquely important to farmers, crash fatality rates in rural communities are more than double those in urban areas, accounting for 5.2 deaths per 100,000 each year. Tractor rollovers account for one of every three farm worker fatalities, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Week 3: Risk Reduction

Week three of safety month focuses on risk reduction, and given that summer is upon us, there is no area more ripe for risk reduction than heat-related illnesses. OSHA reported 2,830 heat-related illnesses in 2022, a number likely underreported due to a lack of awareness and reporting mechanisms.

Sitting in a cab or in a tractor and moving levers may not seem exhausting, but farmers face significant risks due to direct sunlight exposure, inconsistent shade, and the physical and cognitive demands of their job. While your brain only makes up 2% of your body weight, it uses more than 20% of your body’s energy, and your body needs water to turn those calories into energy, meaning you don’t have to be working in the sun to get dehydrated. So, remember to stay hydrated!

Heat stress and mild heat exhaustion are fairly easy to treat when caught early with a little shade, hydration and rest, but just as quickly as things can get better, they can turn potentially fatal. Severe cases of heat stroke involve loss of consciousness, seizures and vomiting and require immediate professional medical attention — often requiring life-saving techniques like the TACO method (tarp-assisted cooling oscillation) where an overheated worker is doused with ice water to cool their core as quickly as possible.

The TACO method, just like CPR, is a life-saving intervention and should be administered until help arrives.

PPE Is the Last Line of Defense, Not the first

In all safety plans, personal protective equipment (PPE) should be considered the last line of defense against injury, not the first. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, close to 20,000 eye injuries occur every year, underscoring the importance of safety eyewear, which prevents more than 90% of potential eye injuries.

The sun isn’t just a hazard on the skin, it can also severely strain the eyes and compromise your ability to work safely in the field for long periods of time. Protecting the eyes from fatigue and keeping vision unobstructed is non-negotiable when working with equipment, especially harvesters and combines.

Respiratory Safety

Respirable substances are harmful and can be found on almost any farm — inhaling these particles can cause serious health issues later in life without the proper protection.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an all-purpose respirator, but no matter what respirators you choose to use while working, it should be approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) or the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Just check the respirator or filter for a number preceded by the prefix “TC.” Iif that’s there, you’re good to go.

Atmosphere-supplying respirators supply clean breathable air from a safe source and are used on farms for working in barn lofts with moldy hay, in the field during tilling or during pesticide application.

Air purifying respirators (APRs) are commonly used on farms because they remove contaminants from the surrounding air through particulate filters and chemical cartridges/canisters. Two-strap APRs cover the mouth and nose (such as an N95 mask) and contain filters and are rated for three levels of oil degradation resistance (N, R and P) and three levels of filter efficiency (95, 99 and 100); with “95” meaning it filters at least 95% of airborne particles.

Week 4: Slips, Trips and Falls

The last week of Safety Month wraps up by focusing on reducing slips, trips and falls on farms across the country — with an emphasis on falls. Falls remain the most common form of serious injury across the country, especially for farmers.

There are few certainties in life: taxes, death and gravity — and few folks are more at risk of fatalities from falls and rollovers than farmers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports a rate of 23 work-related deaths per 100,000 workers in the agricultural industry, that’s more than seven times higher than the national average, with 1 in 10 farmers experiencing a rollover at least once in his or her life.

These statistics should immediately underscore what everyone already knows: falls on a farm are often fatal, mostly preventable, yet seemingly inevitable. Proactively identifying blindspots within your own organization’s capabilities and protocols while also engaging in meaningful training can not only assist in compliance, it’s the best way to keep the lawyers in their offices and ensure every worker makes it home.

What Lies Ahead

Many safety training programs, including those offered by OSHA and other industry associations, have started integrating VR and AR to provide more effective training solutions.

In order to ensure safety training gets everywhere it is needed, many safety training programs, including those offered by OSHA and other industry associations, have started integrating virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to provide more effective training solutions. Large-scale growers are now working with companies specializing in  VR and AR training solutions, especially for seasonal workers, to offer farm-specific training in order to stay on the leading edge of keeping workers safe while also exploring where unseen dangers continue to lurk.

As safety awareness continues to evolve, lurking dangers will evolve too, presenting us with a brand new set of issues to address next year. Because, remember, safety is a year-round commitment.