Nebraska Corn Board urges farmers, others to keep an eye on safety

The fall harvest season is upon us – and that means more trucks, tractors and other equipment will be traversing typically idyllic rural roadways.

“People driving the roadways need to keep an eye out for agriculture equipment, which is larger, heavier and slower moving than it sometimes appears,” Don Hutchens, executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board, said in a news release. “It only takes a second or two at highway speeds to close the distance between slow moving trucks and equipment, and a collision between a large piece of equipment and a car can be devastating.”

With a good crop expected and a lot of new storage bins put up in the last year or two, the Nebraska Corn Board also encourages farmers to think about grain bin safety and communicate safety rules and procedures to anyone who may be helping load and unload grain.

“There is a real chance of entrapment in a grain bin; it only takes grain up to your knees to be trapped, and the situation can deteriorate rapidly,” Hutchens said.

This week (Sept. 19-25) is recognized as National Farm Safety & Health Week. This year’s theme is “ATVs: Work Smart. Ride Safe.”

While ATVs are an incredibly useful tool around the farm, Hutchens said, they are also one of the most dangerous. According to the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission, there were 410 deaths related to ATV use and more than 135,000 injuries treated in emergency rooms in 2008.

“ATVs should be considered another piece of equipment on the farm, another tool to help get the job done,” Hutchens said. “There should be safety rules for an ATV just like you’d have for a tractor or combine.”

President Obama – like every sitting president since 1944 – made the declaration for Farm Safety and Health Week.

In the declaration, President Obama noted that:

Our farmers, ranchers, farm workers, horticultural workers, and their families and communities are among the most productive in the world. Our agriculture industry employs only a tiny percentage of the United States workforce, yet its yield is worth billions of dollars a year and supports the growth and development of the American economy. Agricultural producers are stewards of our natural resources and precious open spaces, and they are playing a key role in developing renewable energy and moving America towards energy independence.

The mention of renewable fuels and energy independence was a nice touch to the message of American farmers being so productive and important to the economy.

For more, click here. Or visit the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety.