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Date Published: December 2004
Introduction
Spotting Hazards
A Simple Equation for Creating
a Safer Workplace
Managing Safety on Your Farm
Developing a Safety Management
Plan
Standards of Practices for
Nova Scotia Farm Business
How to Use the Farm Safety Check
List Worksheets
A safe farm workplace is created when everyone takes
a role in managing health and safety issues.
It is a well documented fact that good safety management
leads to increased productivity. A good safetymanagement
program can help avoid farm accidents that are costly,
time consuming, stressful and inconvenient.The only
way to avoid the cost and the litigation that may
be associated with farm accidents is to prevent accidents.
There are five simple principles which can guide your
approach to a safe farm workplace.
- Farm safety is everyone's responsibility.
- Risk is part of life, simply because people and
technology are not perfect
- Risk can be reduced by paying attention to the
cause of accidents and changing work habits
- There is usually more than one way to prevent
an accident
- Our perception of risk is not always accurate
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The best safety outcomes are achieved
through a planned approach to identifying and dealing
with hazards.A hazard is any situation, activity, procedure,
piece of equipment/machinery or animal that may cause
injury or harm to a person.Hazards in the farm workplace
inclued:
- Work environments (light, noise, rain, heat, sun)
- Substances (chemicals, fuels, dust)
- Workplace layout (work space)
- Work organization (unnecessary handling)
- Machinery and Equipment (moving equipment and
tools)
- Farm Animals (handling)
- Heights (silos and lofts)
- Electricity (switches, cables, and connections)
Everyone associated with the farm workplace should always
be on duty spotting hazards. Following are some guidelinesto
assist in spotting hazards on your farm
• Observation -Use
your sense of sight, smell, touch and hearing coupled
with common sense, knowledge and experience to identifypotential
hazardous situations.
Obtain and read carefully manuals and safety sheets
provided by equipment and machinery manufacturers and
ensure employees read them.These materials can assist
in the identification of hazards and they specify the
precautions that need to be taken for the safe operation
of equipment and tools and the safe handling of substances.
Pay special attention to areas and activities that may
involve or expose children and visitors to hazardous
situations.
• Record analysis -Keep
records of identified hazards, near misses and injuries
to help identify possible trends.
• Stay
tuned -to the most up-to-date safety information
and procedures and what is happening in the workplace.
• Risk management tools -Use
the information on this website and the information
from the link to the risk management tool to identify
and manage hazards in the workplace.
• Legislation
and Regulations -Become familiar with the Nova
Scotia Occupational Health and Safety Act and General
Safety Regulation.
| The Nova Scotia Occupational
Health and Safety Act outlines the processes
and procedures thatmust be put in place on your
farm to create a safe workplace; its accompanying
Regulations specify how those processes and
procedures must be implemented. These important
documents can be obtained from the Nova Scotia
Department of Labor by calling toll free 1-800-952-2687 |
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Once a hazard has been identified, the next step is
to manage the risk(s) associated with the hazard. Risk
is simply the chance that an existing hazard may actually
cause injury or damage. Managing risk entails taking
the steps necessary to reduce or eliminatethe risk associated
with an identified hazard as suggested below in Figure
1.1. Remember, the majority of farm accidents are due
to the risksthat individuals who work in farm environments
everyday take for granted or consider routine and unimportant.
Figure 1.1 Equation for a safe workplace
Once a hazard has been identified and the risk has been
assessed, changes can be made to control or eliminate
the hazard.Changes can be implemented in descending
levels of importance as suggested in Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2 Hierarchy of Changes
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Managing farm safety is an ongoing task for everyone
who lives, works or visits your property. There are
no shortcuts and there are no excuses when it comes
to ensuring the safety of employees, family and visitors.
The best way to manage safety issues on yourfarm is
through the development of a planned approach.
HOW TO BEGIN:
To begin the development of a planned approach to farm
safety you will need to do an assessment of how safety
issues are currentlydealt with on your farm. To assess
the current safety management on your farm you can use
the mini safety audit below.
Figure 1.3 Mini Safety Audit
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A safety management plan can be based on the points
covered in the Mini Safety Audit, Figure 1.3 above,
giving priority to any areas where you have checked
'No'. A good safety management plan is first, the product
of discussion with employees and others who may frequent
the workplace, and second, it involves a comprehensive
examination of all hazards and associated risks that
exist in the workplace. The information provided on
this website will assistyou in identifying those hazards
and putting procedures in place to deal with the associated
risks. Your plan should cover the following areas:
- Providing employees with information on workplace
hazards and how to reduce the associated risks
- Providing training for new employees
- Providing safety training with new machinery and
new tasks
- A system for documenting accidents and hazardous
situations
- A system for managing farm safety on an ongoing
basis
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The principle purpose of this website is to help
you identify the areas on your farm that may pose
a risk to you, your family and your employees. Dealing
with the areas covered on this website can also
help ensure that yourfarm business will meet occupational
health and safety obligations set out in Nova Scotia's
Occupational Health and Safety Act and General
Safety Regulations.
The Risk Management
Tool is designed to assist you in managing
farm safety issues on an ongoingbasis. Using these
two tools together; the information on this website
to identify potential risk, and the Risk Management
Tool to manage those riskson a regular basis
you will: 1) create a safer workplace for everyone
who comes in contact with your workplace; 2) help
protect yourself, your family and your employees
from serious injury; and, 3) comply with many of
the legal obligations imposed by Legislation and
Regulations.
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Almost every situation in the farm workplace has the
potential to cause serious injury or death. Every farm
businessowner/manager has a responsibility to do everything
in his/her power to control and manage the risks that
are inherent in the farm workplace.Farm business owner/managers
must take this responsibility seriously and do everything
in their power to minimize the possibility of injury,since
they may be held liable for any accidents that do take
place. Even if the existence of a conscientious risk
management strategy fails to prevent injury, it will
aid in the demonstration of due diligence.
The page consisting of the Risk Management Worksheets
are intended to assistyou in implementing a systematic
risk management plan for each area of activity on your
farm. The check list worksheets have been designed toenable
farm operators and managers to monitor key safety issues
on a monthy or bi-monthly basis. A more detailed version
of the worksheet checklists can be obtained by contacting
the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture or the Nova
Scotia Department of Agriculture and Marketing.
The worksheets that have been provided with your Risk
Management Tool have been designed to cover areas
common to most farms in Nova Scotia;however, blank charts
have been included to allow for areas that are not specifically
listed and/or areas that may be of specific concern
to youand your employees. Carefully reading the Standards
of Practice for Farms in Nova Scotia will assist
you in identifying the areas with whichyou should be
most concerned. You can receive further assistance by
contacting the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture
or the Nova Scotia Departmentof Agriculture and Marketing.
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