Canadian Agriculture Safety Week March 14 - 20, 2010
THE ESTEVAN MERCURY, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010
Let children play, grow and farm safely
Canadian Agriculture Safety Week March 14 - 20, 2010
Be safe! Don’t pay the price! Insurance may offer you $10,000 for a leg, $6,000 for an arm, but fingers only net about $900. What dollar value would assign to your body? How about your life? And what would the real costs of injury or death mean to you, your family and your business? “Plan • Farm • Safety” is the theme of the new Canadian Agricultural Safety campaign. Each aspect of the theme will be promoted over the next three years. This year the campaign will promote “Plan” with safety walkabouts and planning for safety. In the second year, the focus will be on “Farm” including implementation, documentation and training. In the third year, emphasis will be on “Safety” including assessment, improvement and further development of safety systems. The year-long “Plan” campaign is being launched in conjunction with Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (CASW), which runs from March 14 to 20. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) deliver CASW in partnership with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and Agriculture and AgriFood Canada. “When it comes to safety on farms, a moment of carelessness can have tragic consequences,” says Marcel Hacault, CASA Executive Director. “Machines have no mercy and livestock have no conscience when it comes to dealing with humans. So it is up to each one of us to take responsibility for our own safety at all times – or it could cost dearly in many ways.”
Two of the leading causes of death on Canadian farms are machinery and livestock. For machinery – tractors are by far the worst with rollovers, runovers and entanglements being the most high-risk incidents. For non-machinery, the most risky activity is livestock handling – particularly bulls, horses, and cows with calves, says a study by the Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting program (CAIR). On average, 115 people are killed and another 1,500 are seriously injured by farm-related incidents in Canada each year - and many more minor injuries are never even reported. The CAIR study looked at hospitalized and non-hospitalized injuries, permanent disabilities and death and calculated estimations for direct costs including hospi-
tal care, physician services, drugs and rehabilitation. It also considered indirect costs such as loss of productivity and costs associated with living with a permanent disability as a result of injury. The twelve-year study determined there was significant variation in the cost for each of these injury types. The cost for premature death was greatest at $274,573, followed by a permanent disability injury at $142,553. The cost per hospitalized occurrence was $10,144, and $695 per non-hospitalized incident. In total, the cost to our economy for agricultural injuries is estimated at between $200 and $300 million annually. The CFA, FCC, CASA, and AAFC want to remind Canadian farmers to “Plan • Farm • Safety.”
Be Safe Out There! • Collision Repair • Frame Repair • Glass Repair • Glass Replacement • Custom Paint • Sikkens Paint • Camper/RV Repair • Complete Autobody Repair & Painting • Courtesy Cars Available • Journeymen Technicians
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634-3696
wind, free of pests (ants, snakes, rodents, etc.) and free of hazardous plants. Second, surround the play area with a child protective fence and self-latching gate. Ensure it is sturdy, easy to maintain and a minimum height of 4 feet. Third, choose play equipment. Quality play equipment does not have to be expensive. Choose balls, sandboxes or tree swings. Remember all structures that can be climbed should be positioned at least six feet from fencing or other equipment. And fi nally, use protective ground cover such as sand to absorb the shock of falls under play equipment with elevated surfaces such as slides, monkey bars, and swings. For more information on how to design safe play areas go to National Children’s Centre for Rural Safety and Health at www.marshfieldclinic.org/research/children/safePlay . The CFA, CASA, FCC and AAFC want to remind Canadian farmers to “Plan • Farm • Safety.”
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483-2826
443-2466
634-6060
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Growing up on a farm can be a wonderful experience for children, however without proper supervision it can result in tragedy. Between 1990 and 2004, 209 children under fifteen years old were killed on Canadian farms; and from 1990 to 2000 an additional 1,886 children were hospitalized for farm-related injuries reports the Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting program (CAIR). “A farm is an industrial work site,” said Marcel Hacault, CASA Executive Director. “You wouldn’t think of letting your children play unsupervised in an active construction site – so why would you turn them loose on a farm?” The CAIR study indicates that three-quarters (74.2%) of child fatalities were work-related. Of these deaths, three-quarters (73.5%) involved an adult who was engaged in agricultural work. For example cases where a child extra rider fell from a tractor or where a pickup truck reversed over a child bystander. Of the remaining quarter (26.5%) of work-related fatalities, the child victim was working. For children under fifteen, bystander runovers and extra rider runovers account for 40 per cent of child fatalities. Drownings represent 15 per cent of work-related fatalities and 45 per cent of non-work related fatalities. The most common causes of hospitalized agricultural injuries in children were falls from heights, working and playing with animals, and entanglement. Falls from heights were especially frequent in five to nine year olds. Children under age five are particularly vulnerable to farm related incidents accounting for almost half (46%) of all childhood fatalities and a quarter of hospitalizations. “The best way to keep youngsters safe is to create a safe play area,” says Hacault. “It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does need to be well thought out.” First, select a location that is removed from the farm activity. Preferably it will be adjacent to or in close proximity to the house. Ensure the location is sheltered from
637-4370
Lance Mack & Yansey Hagel
1010 6th Street, Estevan Phone:
Page C-11
CARLYLE
REDVERS
453-2262
452-3216
Be Safe on the Farm.
RON'S
201 - 4th St. Estevan • 634-3109
WOOD COUNTRY ESTEVAN
MCLEAN
TISDALE
Ph: (306) 634-5111 • Fax: (306) 634-8441 407 Kensington Avenue, Estevan
THE WORK WEAR STORE LTD.
Hours: Mon. - Fri. 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
202 MAIN ST CARLYLE 453-6167
Be Safe On The Farm
1210 4TH ST ESTEVAN 634-8232
Proud to Salute our Farmers & recognize Ag Safety Week!
112 2ND ST WEYBURN 842-3006
Phone: (306)
PLUMBING & HEATING LTD.
3902 - 75th Ave. Leduc, AB.
301 Kensington Ave. Estevan, SK.
634-3616
Phone: (888)
835-0541
www.bbaxtertransport.ca 912 6th Street, Estevan
1037 - 5th Street • Estevan - Ph: 634-5172 e-mail: johnsonpandh@sasktel.net
Canada's leading distributor of industrial, Áeet and safety products. 1112 5th Street, Estevan • 634-2631 Proud to provide selection, quality and excellence to our customers.
634-7275 Toll Free: 1-866-457-3776
Safety First! 637-2121 89 Escana St., Estevan Toll Free 1-866-332-2121 Fax: (306) 637-2124
See us for all your General Automotive Repair
Roy’s Transmission Ltd. 634-7903
237-3rd Street, Estevan • www.roystransmission.com Serving Estevan & area for over 35 years!
Big Dog Seeds Inc. Oxbow • 306-483-2963
Think Safety Talk Safety Practice Safety Griffin – 306.457.2220 Carlyle – 306.453.2255 Carnduff – 306.482.4343
www.precision-ag.com
2010 Certified and higher pedigrees of the following seed in stock: Spring Wheat: AC Barrie, AC Kane - #1 variety in Manitoba, AC Waskada - good Fusarium head blight resistance Winter Wheat: CDC Butco Peas: CDC Golden (yellow), CDC Sonata (forage) Flax: CDC Bethune, CDC Sorrel (GMO tested) Pinto Beans: White Mountain (non-darkening) Lentils: CDC Maxim CL (small red Clearfield) Full Line of Brett Young Grass & Forage Seed, Canola Seed & Corn Hybrids Mycogen Sunflowers Liquid, Peat & Granular Inoculants Licensed Scale In Yard High Germination Seed Lots Seed is Disease Tested
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