C U Safe
Year 2003
I
have posed various safety questions at the beginning of the past three years:
“Will you have a safe year?”, “Did you have a safe year?”, and “What have you
done in order to be safe this coming year?”. One can see from these questions that it not
only takes effort to be safe, one must also have a positive attitude as it
relates to safety. I pose a new question
this year, “What can I do to help you/your workers/your clientele be safe this
year?”
One
possibility that I am working on right now is to be able to offer Farm Safety
Mini-grants. These grants would be
available for putting on farm safety meetings.
I plan to have additional information on this by the February newsletter. I hope we all have a safe 2003 and I look
forward to assisting you with your farm safety plans.
Charles V. Privette, III
Inservice Training
There
are still spots available for the inservice training
“SC ROPS”. The course is listed in the inservice training catalog under the section Sustainable
Agricultural Production Systems as 105-F: SC ROPS.
Agricultural fatalities make agriculture one of the
deadliest industries in the
The
purpose of the project is to:
Why
bother you may ask?
These
programs can easily be taken back to the counties and presented at various
meetings to inform clientele of the various hazards that they face. This program is adequate for individuals
ranging from youth to elderly farmers.
A training date has not been set other than this spring. I will contact the people enrolled in the
class in a few weeks to determine what date is appropriate.
Youth Safety
Everyone
in agriculture knows someone whose life has been affected by a farm-related
injury or death. The statistics are sobering and do not apply to just
adults. Many youth are injured or killed
each year on the farm. According to the North American Guidelines for
Children’s Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT), each year more than 100 children are
killed and 33,000 seriously injured on farms in the
Even
more tragic is that most of these incidents could have been prevented if simple
safety precautions had been followed. That’s why safety education for our youth
is critical in preventing these horrible statistics.
One
measure that has been implemented to educate our youth on the safety precautions
required around the farm is farm safety day camps — a one-day, hands-on
workshop that teaches farm children and their parents
safe farm practices.
This year we will have seven Progressive Farmer Farm
Safety Day Camps. The following schedule
lists the camps, their tentative schedule, and the camp coordinator.
2003 Progressive Farmer
Farm Safety Day
(Tentative)
March 21
Paula Rhodes
803.943.2586
May
Allendale Camp
Karissa
Ulmer
803.548.4207
June
Beaufort Camp
Phyllis Atkins
843.846.4450
June (3rd week)
York/Chester Camp
Robin Currence
803.385.6181
September 6
Pickens/Anderson
Camp
Corey Brown
864.246.9426
September
Beaufort Camp
Beverly Connelly
843.470.6355
October 24
Orangeburg Camp
Glenda Lewis
803.534.2409
Tractor Safety
The tractor by all means is the workhorse around the farm. The tractor is the one piece of equipment
that may get used everyday. With our
high dependency on the tractor, safety has to be a priority. Tractor related injuries account for nearly
32 percent of all agricultural related fatalities. This translates into approximately 270 deaths
annually. In 2000,
Three
areas of concern that tend to get most of the attention when addressing tractor
safety are rollovers, runovers, and highway
incidents. Rollovers or overturns
account for 54 percent of the tractor related fatalities followed by runovers (24 percent) and highway incidents (13 percent).
Rollovers
Set wheels at widest possible spacing for the job.
Lock brake pedals for road travel.
Reduce speed while turning, crossing slopes, and on rough,
slick, or muddy terrain.
Watch where you are going; bumps,
stumps, holes, etc.
Avoid steep slopes if possible.
Use weight to increase stability.
Pull heavy loads at slow speeds.
Hitch towed loads to the drawbar only.
Keep side mounted equipment on up-hill side of slope.
Start forward motion slowly and change speed gradually.
Back up steep slopes.
Avoid driving too close to ditches, stream banks, and
canals.
Runovers
Most
occur when an operator or extra-rider falls from the tractor (50% of runovers).
NO
EXTRA RIDERS
On
ROPS equipped tractors, make sure you wear your seat belt.
Twenty
seven percent of runovers occur to bystanders. Pay attention to your surroundings.
The
other cause of runovers is starting a tractor from
the ground. Start from the driver’s
seat, not the ground - No bypass starting.
Highway Incidents
Make
sure all lights are working properly and the SMV emblem is in good
condition. Use lights all the time, not
just at night. Majority of all highway
collisions involving farm equipment and automobiles occur during daylight
hours.
This publication is written
and designed by Charles V. Privette III. If you have
any questions, concerns, or ideas for future articles, please send to Charles
V. Privette III, 224 McAdams Hall, Box 340357,
Clemson, SC 29634-0357, privett@clemson.edu,
or (864)-656-6247.
This publication can be found
at www.clemson.edu/safety/newslett.htm.
Clemson University
Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to people of all ages,
regardless of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability,
political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital or family status and is an equal
opportunity employer.