Make plans for farm safety to secure business success

Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) farm-safety report card showed that 85 per cent of Canadian producers understand the importance of maintaining farm safety — to prevent financial loss due to incidents, protect their family members and to keep employees safe. Despite their good intentions, only one in 10 producers has a written farm-safety plan. The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) offers producers guidance in developing safety plans for their farms through the Plan Farm Safety campaign.

The study surveyed farmers’ perceptions of the current state of farm safety in Canada. The study also revealed that 34 per cent of Canadian producers want training in the basics of preparing a safety plan for their operations.

The survey was conducted to support the three-year theme of the Canadian Agricultural Safety campaign, Plan Farm Safety.

This year, emphasis is on “Safety,” including assessment, improvement and further development of safety systems.

Last year, the focus was on “Farm,” including implementation, documentation and training.

In 2010, the campaign promoted “Plan,” featuring safety walkabouts and planning for safety.

The yearlong “Safety” campaign will be launched with Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (CASW), which runs from March 11 to 17.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) deliver CASW in partnership with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) through Growing Forward, a federal, provincial, territorial initiative.

“The Plan Farm Safety theme has been a catalyst in helping Canadian producers gain a better understanding and appreciation of the importance of safety as part of their overall business planning,” said CFA president Ron Bonnett. “By focusing on a particular aspect of farm-safety plan development each year, producers have been able to go through the steps necessary to establish practical farm-safety programs on their farms.”

“To help producers build and implement a written farm -safety plan, CASA developed a new farm management tool called the Canada FarmSafe Plan,” said Marcel Hacault, executive-director of CASA. “This resource is flexible enough to be used by any sector in any province and can easily be customized to each producer’s specific operation.”

“Planning, implementing and assessing safety on the farm is an important part of every successful farm operation,” said Rémi Lemoine, vice-president and chief operating officer of FCC. “As producers are more exposed to the value of risk management, it’s easier to make the connection between good safety practices and achieving their business goals.”

A free download of the core Canada FarmSafe Plan is available at planfarmsafety.ca.

Rate your farm-safety knowledge by taking the FCC Farm Safety Quiz at fccfarmsafety.ca between March 1 and 31 and enter to win a first-aid kit.

— Canadian Federation of Agriculture