By Curtis Galbraith

March 14-20 is Canadian Agricultural Safety Week

Mar 15, 2021 | 1:35 PM

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Sask. – Today marks the start of Canadian Agricultural Safety Week.

Robin Anderson with the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association says in recent times, there has been a culture change where more people are talking about farm safety.

“Back in the old days, it was kind of a mark of honour if you were involved in a farm incident. Now, it’s a conversation about how do we prevent those incidents and how do we continue having these wonderful family farms that continue to the next generation.”

Anderson says things like proper nutrition and sleep can be ignored when the pressure is on to get farm work done. She encourages farmers to prioritize their health and safety. She adds there are many times when farms no longer survive when something happens to the primary operator.

She adds being mentally well can lead to being physically well.

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“If you’re stressed out or if you’re facing some mental health challenges, (it) really is difficult then to make good decisions about your physical well-being. There are great organizations, the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association being one of them, and other organizations like Do More Ag, provincial safety organizations, are really working towards breaking that stigma about mental health.”

Anderson says reaching out to get support when it is needed can lead to safety and sustainability for farming operations.

She adds Canadian agricultural injury reporting data shows most injuries are related to using machinery.

“It’s run-overs, roll-overs or pinned and struck. Absolutely livestock is part of the mechanisms but definitely, machinery is the number one (way) people are killed on the farm.”

Anderson says the pandemic has meant “a real shift” for a lot of people, including those in agriculture.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, there was real concern about being able to access PPE for farmers because so many folks were requiring PPE in other areas of their lives or other industries that PPE was becoming an issue, and bringing workers onto the farm. How do you maintain social distancing and how do you train someone when that sort of thing is going on with the pandemic?”

There is more on agricultural safety week here.