“Safety is not something you learn by accident” this National Farm Safety and Health Week

This week is National Farm Safety and Health Week and this year's theme is “Safety is not something you learn by accident.”

However, Dan Neenan of the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety points out that the word “accident” is somewhat of a misnomer.

“Because for most people, 'accident' means that nothing could have been done to prevent it. That's why we try to convey the phrase 'preventable incident.'”

Neenan discusses the daily themes of National Farm Safety and Health Week.

“Monday is equipment and rural road safety. Tuesday is health and wellness. Wednesday is generations – conversations about farming from children to grandparents. Thursday is confined spaces – grain silos, manure pits and Friday is reporting farm injuries.”

Speaking of confined spaces, Purdue recently released its annual report on agricultural confined space injuries and fatalities in the United States, recording no fewer than 55 cases across the United States in 2023, including 29 fatal and 26 non-fatal cases.

Neenan says they are offering a series of safety webinars this week with the Agrisafe Network, with two per day.

The latest annual figures for fatal accidents on farms (417 in 2022) are motivation for Neenan and others in the field of farm safety.

“I started doing this in 2000 when we had an average of 730 deaths per year. So getting that down to 417 is a good step, but we'll never get to zero in my entire working life.”