We believe agricultural health and safety should be front and centre everyday, that’s why we’re so happy to be raising awareness thanks to Canadian Agricultural Safety Week in 2024!

Why wouldn’t you want to protect a workforce who’s industry employs 2.3 million people across 189,874 farms? In case that’s not a big enough statistic for you, the Government of Canada state that Canadian farms cover 62.2 million hectares. It’s a good thing that the Canadian Agricultural Safety Society (CASA) are a driving force and a loud voice amongst the noise.

What’s this years moto? Your Farm, Your Family, Your Success: Safety is our Heritage.

Calling all farmers, families, farm workers and community members; even if you’re not part of the agricultural industry (you’re still reading this). Let’s work together to plan for #FarmSafetyEveryday. Our industry feeds and clothes the world. We need our farmers, and we need them to go home safe each day.

When is Canadian Agricultural Safety Week?

So, why are we practically shouting about Canadian Agricultural Safety Week - well it’s now. CASW is in the third week of March each year, in 2024 that's from 10-16 of March. How can we raise awareness? Get involved in the conversation, no matter how big or small it may feel. Add your comments on socials, share a blog or two, and keep an eye out for the barnders…

There is a range of great support material out there - even if we do say so ourselves. Each day we’ll be following along with the below schedule:

Monday, March 11th 2024 - Child Safety on Farm

Addressing child safety on your farm can include the usual steps of a risk assessment. Talk to your workers, consult them about the day-to-day activity on-farm, they might have a different perspective of what poses a danger to children. Then identify the hazards, assess the risk and implement the controls to keep your children safe.

Tuesday, March 12th 2024 - The effects of Dementia on farm life

There are an estimated 733,040 Canadians living with dementia in 2024. The early signs of dementia can vary person to person and often the behaviour is shrugged off as part of the ageing process. As we’ve discussed before, the average age of farmers (56 years) was higher than the general working population (39 years). Farmers are working beyond the average retirement age increasing their potential risks with ageing on farm and these tend to come in the form of three groupings: physical, social and mental wellbeing.

Wednesday, March 13th 2024 - Succession planning for peace of mind

It is important to not only consider the succession of your personal assets (in your Will) but also your business assets that you own or control through a partnership, company or trust. Business succession can provide you the comfort that your business endeavors can continue on your incapacity or death.

Thursday, March 14th 2024 - Fatigue on farm

Fatigue is one of the most common hazards on a farm, and most underrated risk for everyone. It’s more than just feeling a bit tired. Fatigue is that overall feeling of tiredness or lack of energy. It interferes with normal daily activities and functioning, impacts on alertness and slows reaction times. Your ability to communicate can be affected, as well as mood. 

Friday, March 15th 2024 - Get ready to work on farm

Keeping safe when on farm should be a team effort and will involve a range of health and safety documents and tools. A farm manager should ensure workers are properly trained and educated in how to complete their jobs safely.

Some other great resources from CASW:

• Pesticide safety starts with the label

• Farm safety includes being rail-safe

• Know your limitations for a safer, more productive farm

• Normalizing farm safety from an early age

• Siblings carry on parents’ legacy with family fish farm

• Culture of safety on the farm starts with communication

A final note, as a community (not just an industry) it is our responsibility to ensure not only our own safety, but of those around us. At Safe Ag Systems we hear the stories, the good and the not so good, which drives us everyday to make farming that little bit safer for our friends, for our families, for us and for you. We know your challenges are unique and often very different to any other industry. Agriculture is changing and we’re here to help and support that change. So, will we be seeing you for Canadian Agricultural Safety Week 2024?

Disclaimer: Content on this website may be of relevance to users outside of Australia, but content links and examples are specific to the Canada in this blog post. Please check with your local authority for your country and industry requirements.