Agricultural safety is conference focus

Following up on last fall’s launch of a Rural Road Safety campaign, the Delaware Farm Bureau put on an inaugural Delaware Ag Safety Conference in Harrington during American Farm Bureau Federation's Agricultural Safety Awareness Program Week March 5-11. Conference partners included Delaware State Grange, Delaware Department of Agriculture Cooperative Extension, and Nationwide Insurance.

June Unruh, New Castle County Women's Committee chair, asked motorists to be alert and share the road safely as farm equipment is once again traveling from farm to farm this spring, fertilizing, preparing fields and planting.

In his address March 7, Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse reminded attendees how dangerous the agriculture industry really is. All it takes, he said, is doing one foolish thing for an accident to happen. "If you get one thing out of this, remember to stop. Think," he said.

Scuse and Dr. Jim Glancey of the University of Delaware urged farmers to make sure shields and guards are in place on equipment. Glancey emphasized guards are especially important at nip points where rotating belts, rollers or gears meet and can draw someone into equipment. If a belt drive doesn't have a cover, build one, Glancey urged.

Ben King, risk management consultant with Nationwide, offered a slide presentation on grain bin safety. "When grain is flowing, it takes 25 seconds to be completely engulfed," he said. "You may not notice you are sinking if you are concentrating on what you are doing inside a bin." He urged all farmers to "lock out, tag out" so that no one can accidentally turn an auger back on while someone is inside a bin.

A safety harness, properly installed, can be a life saver. It works with a safety rope adjusted to keep workers from going too deep. In 95 percent of all engulfments, there was no safety harness.

People should never attempt to rescue someone wearing a harness by pulling him out with a tractor. That can cause too much bodily damage.

If a person is trapped, he should keep to the side and walk up the grain, and cover his mouth to provide air space. "What kills you is suffocation," King said.

People working inside a grain bin should always have an observer standing by who is in communication with the outside. The observer should never attempt rescue. His job is to get help.

Retired Extension safety specialist Ron Jester urged his audience to read and follow label instructions, and wear proper personal protection equipment. That sounds like common sense, but Jester said common sense assumes a person has knowledge. "When you hire someone to operate equipment, don't assume he knows what he's doing. You can't just show a video. A video isn't safety training," he said.

Delaware Department of Agriculture is conducting a free program for farmers to dispose of unwanted agricultural chemicals, said Todd Davis. Farmers should not move the chemicals, but should call Jimmy Hughes at DDA so he can come see what is there. Arrangements will be made for pickup.