Farm safety should be part of all post-secondary agriculture programs: judge

Jun 29, 2017

Judge Anne Brown made the recommendations in a fatality inquiry report

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

An Alberta provincial court judge thinks farm safety should be a compulsory component of all post-secondary programs.

Judge Anne Brown made the recommendations in her fatality inquiry report into the 2014 death of Stephen Gibson.

The 46-year old Gibson was using an auger to move processed grain to a cattle feed area at Hamilton Farms, a cattle and grain farm near Cochrane, Alberta.

The power source for the auger became disconnected and the auger plugged with grain. When Gibson tried to clear the auger manually, a portion of his clothing caught in the PTO and he was pulled into the equipment.

Judge Anne Brown
Photo: CBC

In addition to making farm safety a part of post-secondary education, Brown suggests the Ministries of Labour and Agriculture and Forestry develop and implement compulsory annual safety certifications of farm equipment.

Alberta’s Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General sent letters to the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry, Labour, and Advanced Education for responses to Judge Brown’s recommendations.

The ministries have been asked to provide their responses by Oct. 29.

Between 1997 and 2014, there have been 331 fatalities on Alberta farms, according to the Farm Safety Centre.

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