Summer 2015 Newsletter MISSION:
To proactively address ongoing and emerging occupational safety and health issues affecting U.S. agriculture.
Upcoming Events • Mid-year ASHCA
Board of Directors Meeting
September 29-30, near Rochester, NY, hosted by Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). • 14th Annual
MRASH Conference
November 17-18, 2015 Decorah, Iowa • Annual ASHCA
Business Meeting
February 2, 2016 – Washington, D.C.
ASHCA FOUNDATION LLC IS ESTABLISHED
Many companies and organizations develop a separate foundation in order to separate unique programs and fundraising from general operations. Foundations provide a means for tracking charitable dollars and ensuring their proper oversight, including investment strategies. After a year of planning, the ASHCA Foundation LLC has become a reality. With a certificate of organization from the State of Minnesota on June 18, 2015, the Foundation is a non-profit limited liability company. The initial Board of Governors is comprised of ASHCA’s Executive Committee members. Over time, new governors will be elected by ASHCA’s Board of Directors to serve the Foundation. The mission of the ASHCA Foundation is “to support occupational safety and health initiatives for people and businesses in agriculture. This will be achieved by guiding financial growth and providing financial oversight of financial resources dedicated to agricultural safety and health programs across the U.S.” ASHCA chair, Leon Graves, explains that “in order to maintain the viability of our Safety Grants program and regional forums, the Foundation will serve a critical purpose. And furthermore, the Foundation will be a great asset to the National Agricultural Safety and Health Hall of Fame to be launched in 2017.”
2016 SAFETY GRANT APPLICATIONS
The popular safety grants program is gearing up for a third cycle. Delivering on its promise to encourage and provide financial support for agricultural safety interventions at the local and/or regional level, the ASHCA Board of Directors approved another cycle of funding for 2016. Ten grants were awarded in 2014 and another ten in 2015. An ideal request is one that comes from a small company/ organization wanting to provide hands-on safety training to agricultural workers, using a well-established safety program. The applicant should show a “matched” contribution from other sponsors and/or in-kind support from safety consultants or trainers.
APPLY TODAY
Leon Graves visits a Wisconsin Dairy Farm.
The deadline for safety grant applications is January 7, 2016. The application form is available at www.ashca.org or call the ASHCA office.
UPDATES FROM SAFETY GRANT RECIPIENTS Creative and very educational – these terms describe the new equipment built by Gordon Moore of Moore Ag Safety, Inc. to demonstrate safe practices in livestock operations. As of July, 2015, Gordon has provided training in four states to more than 400 workers using the handson demonstration equipment he created with ASHCA safety grant funds. Moore reported he was able to build equipment and demonstrate hazards to train people in English and Spanish during onsite visits using a safe and controlled environment. “War stories and verbal communication are not enough. Attendees noted that visually seeing the hazards associated with Lockout/ Tagout and lack of machine guarding via the simulated equipment made a huge impact and enhanced the credibility of training.”
In California, training workers about heat-related illness prevention is required and employers need written policies. To meet this demand, AgSafe worked with a Cal/OSHA Outreach Trainer to provide hands-on training, webinars and onsite audits. There were 29 trainings reaching 279 workers, 105 webinars, 20 written plan evaluations and 12 onsite operation visits. The process also revealed barriers that compromise worker safety, making the importance of frequent trainings more evident. According to Amy Wolfe, the project “allowed us to open the door and assist agricultural employers to not only deal with heat illness issues, but many other safety challenges they face on a daily basis. With the audits, we are able to work one-on-one with them and help them fill in their gaps with trainings for all levels of their employees.” How often do agricultural workers have difficulties finding childcare services? And would mothers be more likely to work in agriculture if childcare services for children were convenient and of high quality? These are the issues addressed in an ASHCA safety grant by Mike Gempler of Washington Growers League of Yakima, WA. The project was coordinated by Mary Miller and involved focus groups, interviews, and a survey to gather information from farmworkers and employers. Detailed findings will be reported elsewhere. The project highlighted current needs and obstacles to finding childcare as well as opportunities for collaboration between employers, childcare providers and workers. The project was featured in the agricultural media with the story “Child Care Could Expand the Labor Pool” noting that some women are interested in conducting seasonal work, such as harvesting berries, if childcare services are available. The Indian Springs Farmers Association of Mississippi is providing safety training in collaboration with Mississippi Small Farm & Agribusiness Center at Alcorn State University, MS State University Extension and the USDA. Their safety events assist small-scale and limited resource farmers by providing resources and training in CPR, emergency response, good agricultural practices and handling procedures (GAP/GHP) and general agricultural worker safety. To date four training sessions have reached 68 participants.
Farm Safety & Health Week September 20-26, 2015
“Ag Safety. It’s not just a slogan. It’s a lifestyle” is the theme for this year’s campaign when we spread the word about the importance of agriculture and the wellbeing of people engaged in this work. Each year since 1944, the third week of September has been recognized as National Farm Safety & Health Week. This recognition has been an annual promotion initiated by the National Safety Council and has been proclaimed as such by each sitting U.S. President since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Coordinated by the National Education Center for Ag Safety (NECAS), many organizations and the media get involved in safety promotion. Webinars are scheduled for each day of the week, available at www. necasag.org, and public service announcements are related to this year’s theme. ...continued on next page
This year the NECAS webinars, offered each day at noon (CT), will cover the following themes:
AG SAFETY CONSULTANTS
Monday: Rural Roadway
As the importance of safety in production agriculture continues to gain momentum, the demand for safety consultants is growing. Among ASHCA’s members are individuals who are providing safety services for those small to medium size operations that do not employ a full time safety director.
Tuesday: Health Wednesday: Children’s Topics Thursday: Confined Spaces in Agriculture Friday: Tractor Safety NECAS also invites everyone to join them for ‘AgChat’ on Tuesday, Sept. 22, from 7-9 p.m. (CT) The theme “Ag Safety is not just a slogan, it’s a lifestyle” reminds local and rural communities that agriculture is one of the most dangerous occupations in the U.S. and farm injuries and fatalities are preventable. For more information, contact: Gloria Reiter (888) 844-6322, ext. 371 or reiterg@nicc.edu
The most recent
data from the U.S. Department of Labor indicates that in 2013 farming accounted for 500 fatalities, or 23.2 deaths per 100,000 workers.
– SPOTLIGHT ON ASHCA MEMBERS
Ron Odell of Amarillo, Texas recently retired from Cactus Feeders after 16 years of service. He is pursuing his passion for individuals and companies to believe in and implement safety programs to protect employees and families. His new company, P & R Safety, LLC stands for Professional and Reliable Safety. He is conducting trainings, site inspections, safety audits, written programs, simulated OSHA visits and training in first aid, CPR and AED response. Ron notes that “I have been an advocate for ASHCA from the beginning because I believe they we can make a real difference in the lives of people by promoting safety to the agriculture industry across the country.” Emory and Charlene Howard of Labelle, Florida became familiar with ASHCA through their work with citrus growers. Emory and Charlene founded Southwest Florida Safety Consulting, Inc. in 1992 with a strong desire to reduce and eliminate injuries by helping farm owners, managers, and employees. “I can still remember the face of an employee who was crushed by his equipment and how I would resolve to prevent this from happening to someone else.” They have developed training curriculum for areas of farming where none previously existed. They have brought qualified safety instruction directly to farms and have been instrumental in teaching and developing safety for the harvesting crew leader to better protect those who are harvesting the crops. Their safety services reach from Florida to Puerto Rico and up to Pennsylvania, bringing a fresh approach to safety and health compliance, as well as practical approaches for employee relations in general. Gordon Moore has been a member of ASHCA since 2009 and used his experience and connections to establish Moore Ag Safety, a consulting service based in Goodwell, OK. He was a speaker at the ASHCA 2010 conference in Dallas and again at the 2013 North American Agricultural Safety Summit in Minneapolis. Gordon’s expertise in low stress cattle handling and feedlot safety are well known in the beef and pork industry where he is a frequent consultant. His services include OSHA training in recordkeeping, Lockout/Tagout, confined spaces, machine guarding, fall protection and emergency action plans. “With today’s grueling OSHA regulations, it is imperative to have the knowledge and skill of a professional to customize safety plans and directives to suit each operation.”
ASHCA IN ACTION
Each month the ASHCA Board of Directors receives an update of key activities from the administrative team. For the latest updates from ASHCA Executive Director, Barb Lee, search www.ashca.org for ASHCA in Action. Subscribe to our mailing list to get these updates sent right to your inbox! Stay in touch with us at www.ashca.org or like us on Facebook.
Order your ASHCA Logo Wear To order, visit ashca.org/membership
First Agricultural Safety Certificate Course is Held With ASCHA as a sponsor, the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health (ISASH) conducted a 3-day agricultural safety training and certificate course in Bloomington, IL in June. The course aims to establish a core level of knowledge in the agricultural safety and health profession. Among the 24 participants were insurance loss control professionals, individuals new to agricultural safety, and seasoned farm safety specialists. Course content ranged from injury/ illness hazards and risk management to personal protective equipment demonstrations. “This was my first time at the ISASH conference and my first time taking an ag safety course.”
“It was a great introduction to the discipline and an excellent way to learn about the research and interventions that have been pioneered around the world” said Bryan Weichelt, a recently hired project manager at the National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield, WI. Course instructors included Dennis Murphy, PhD of Penn State, Kelley Donham, DVM of U of Iowa and Caroline Sheridan of AgriSafe. Participants will take an open-book, online test later this summer then will receive a formal certificate of completion. ASHCA sponsorship funds helped keep registration costs to a minimum.
This newsletter is a publication of the Agricultural Safety & Health Council of America, P. O. Box 356 • Marshfield, WI 54449
Contact
Phone: 715-898-1263 Fax: 715-898-1264 E-mail: info@ashca.org
ASHCA MEMBER UPDATES
Brittany Jablonsky, former member of the ASHCA Board of Directors, recently joined the Farm Credit Council as Director of National Contributions and Stakeholder Relationships. In this position, she will manage the Farm Credit System’s National Contributions Program, which distributes funds in support of organizations and activities that help ensure a vibrant, economically thriving rural America. Amy Liebman reports that Migrant Clinicians Network is very pleased to offer materials to prevent workplace injury – all for free. Their newest resource is the Spanish-English Bilingual Picture Dictionary, Seguidad en Palabras/Safety in Words, which illustrates occupational hazards and best practices for health and safety in agriculture. Ideal for workers, supervisors, community health workers, ESL trainers, extension agents and others, the Bilingual Picture Dictionary clearly and concisely provides vocabulary to help workers and supervisors communicate in order to improve workplace safety. It depicts common encounters in dairy operations and other agricultural settings, using words related to personal protective equipment, animal holding areas, farm machinery and emergency situations. Free download or contact MCN at 512.579.4535. Robin Tutor-Marcom, Director of the North Carolina Agromedicine Institute acknowledges Dr. Ernie Hodgson’s contributions to Agromedicine in North Carolina. Ms. Tutor-Marcom stated in a press release announcing the publication of The Dictionary of Agromedicine, “Dr. Hodgson continues his commitment to the Institute and the field of agromedicine as demonstrated by his leadership in initiating, coordinating and authoring a significant portion of the Agromedicine Dictionary. The Dictionary will be an invaluable tool going forward for both students and professionals working in the field. The Dictionary of Agromedicine may be accessed directly at: http://agromedicinedictionary.ces.ncsu.edu Diane Rohlman, PhD of University of Iowa announces they are recruiting Masters and Doctoral students for their graduate program in Agricultural Safety and Health. For a brochure about this opportunity email Dave Asa @ david-asa@uiowa.edu or check the UIOWA website: http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/oeh/ For the MRASH Conference November 17-18 in Decorah, IA, please consider submitting an abstract for a presentation or poster. Details are on the conference website at i-cash.org/ programs/MRASH-2015/ Julie Sorenson, PhD and Pam Tinc of the Cooperstown, New York Center for Ag Medicine and Health are coordinating the National Tractor Safety Coalition that is building partnerships to expand the highly successful ROPS Rebate Program, which is now offered in six states and provides rebates to farmers who install ROPS on their tractors. Various subcommittees of the NTSC are working to fundraise for rebate dollars, address manufacturing and supply issues, and raise awareness among farm and non-farm communities, among other efforts to move forward with national implementation. For more information about the NTSC or National ROPS Rebate Program, or to get involved, visit www.ROPSr4u.com or contact Pam Tinc at 800-343-7527 or pam.tinc@bassett.org. Aaron Yoder of University of Nebraska is the liaison between the Board of Directors of ASHCA and the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health (ISASH). At the opening session of this year’s ISASH conference, Aaron gave the 160 attendees an overview of ASHCA’s activities and announced that planning is underway to establish a National Agricultural Safety and Health Hall of Fame. ASHCA also had an exhibit at this conference where the 2015 FACT SHEET – Be Safe Be Profitable was distributed.
Charter & Benefactor Members