Ontario Federation of Agriculture warns farmers to be safe this planting season
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
As farmers eagerly head out to the fields for spring planting, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) reminds farmers in this week’s commentary to start with safety.
The commentary mentions some statistics about farm accidents, noting that more than 100 people die each year from farm related accidents in Canada. Most farm accidents that do occur can be prevented. OFA encourages farmers to not only plan for field and planting activities, but to have a plan for safety too.
The farm group encourages farmers to invest time into farm safety like developing a farm safety plan to identify on-farm safety hazards and outline safety procedures to protect family members and farm workers. There is an easy and free template available on the Canadian Farm Safety Association website at www.planfarmsafety.ca.
The commentary sites the Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting organization, which provides data on farm fatalities in Canada from 1990-2008. Of the 2,000 deaths – 92% were male, 47% were farmers or farm owners and 14% were children.
OFA says practices safety is important so that nobody gets hurt.