Be Farm Safety Aware

The 5 Steps to Better Farm Safety

• Step 1: Involve your workers, engage with your team regarding safety

  It is important that individual workers, contractors and visitors are aware of the risks and hazards posed to them on the farm. They should all take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and all those who are on the property with them, ensuring that all who live and work on this farm are kept safe to the best of their combined abilities.

  
• Step 2: Hazard Identification, look for unsafe conditions and practices

  Take a walk around the workplace to identify hazards. Some will be easy to identify,and some may not. Observe workers and managers completing their work and identify if there’s a safer and more efficient way to complete the job at hand.

  
• Step 3: Risk Assessment, for each hazard consider the likely outcome

  Analyze and decide who might be harmed and identify how they might be harmed. What is the severity of the potential harm? By using our Farm Safety Indicator and Management Plan Template, you can assess the risk and plan for the most likely outcomes.

  
• Step 4: Establish control measures using the hierarchy of controls

  Ensure any controls you implement are reasonable and practicable. Below are some key points to remember for how to control a hazard by asking, can you:

  • Eliminate the hazard?
  • Substitute the hazard with something safer?
  • Isolate the hazard from people?
  • Reduce the risks through engineering controls?
  • Reduce exposure using administrative controls like signage?

  Use personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect against the potential negative consequences.

  Sometimes risks remain even after all possible precautions have been taken. It’s important to decide about any remaining hazards if the risk is high, medium, or low, and approach the situation carefully.

• Step 5: Record the findings, implement the plan, and review and update on a regular basis.

  Write down the results on the Farm Safety Indicator (FSI) and Management Plan form or create your own. Consider solutions to manage and mitigate the risks. Allocate resources, people, time, and money, and decide on a Plan of Action to determine who will do what by when.

  Include employees in this process as much as possible and make them aware of any changes that are made at management levels. Keep it simple and succinct.

  

  Provide training and information as appropriate, consider any changes to workplace procedures and updates to any policies, and provide a refresher session to remind everyone about their responsibilities in making sure the workplace is safe.

  Develop a timeline and action plan. Some hazards can be addressed quickly and easily, but some take longer and require more time to mitigate. There may be a need to implement temporary solutions if there are multiple hazards and will require more time and attention.

  Changes occur often on farms, so be sure to review and update your FSI and management plan on a going basis.