This is National Farm Safety Week and with harvest going strong farmers and rural motorists can use the week to focus on ways to keep the season accident free. Purdue University safety specialist Dr. Bill Field says he would like for farmers to establish priorities for themselves, their family and workers, and the equipment.
“Once we establish unrealistic expectations for people and circumstances we get frustrated and that often leads to problems.”
Field suggests an ongoing assessment during harvest that includes someone who is responsible for knowing where everyone is.
“If you’ve got a lot of things going on it’s just nice to know that someone is in touch by cell phone or they know you’re showing up at noon time or dinnertime. I think having that accountability to others is real important this time of year.”
For both farmers and motorists the rule during harvest is to be considerate of others and patient behind the wheel, “especially as we’re looking at transporting a lot of crops on the highway,” Field said.
“In reviewing a lot of the incidents that are coming across my desk so far there are just a lot of things happening on the highway as it becomes more crowded and more people are operating who really haven’t had much experience working around the slow moving equipment. So this is a special time of year where we all benefit from farmers moving their crops from field to storage, and then on to processing, and we all need to be especially patient during that time of year.”
Tuesday is the annual Agricultural Safety and Health Forum at the Beck Ag Center in West Lafayette, and the focus is on farm safety with an emphasis on emergency preparedness.
“During the day we’re going to be doing a simulated grain bin rescue,” Field told HAT. “We’re going to be doing a simulated tractor overturn extrication. We’re going to have the Lifeline helicopter landing as part of that, and demonstrating what they do when they arrive on the scene.”[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/09/Farm-Safety-Week-2012.mp3|titles=Farm Safety Week 2012]
Field says there is room for more attendees if you would like to attend the forum. He is a Professor of Agricultural & Biological Engineering at Purdue.
Listen here for more from Bill Field:[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/09/Bill-Field-interview.mp3|titles=Bill Field interview]