Farm Safety
Animal Handling
- Farm animals are not pets
- Avoid sudden movements or noises
- Wear hard shoes with steel toes
- Avoid the hind legs of animals
- Approach large animals from the side
- Speak softly
- Avoid shadows
- Avoid animals with their newborns
- Hold the halter close to the animal's head
- Never tie the lead rope around an arm, waist, or neck
- Never tease an animal
- Kids should never enter a fence or pen without supervision
ATV Safety
- Wear a helmet and protective clothing
- No passengers
- Don't show off
- Avoid paved roads
- Take a training course
Grain Safety
- Entrapment can take place in less than 1 minute
- Stay out of bin if you are working alone. Use lifelines and harnesses to prevent engulfment
- Don't walk over the surface of crusted or caked grain in a bin. Large air pockets can form below the grain surface
- Turn off all unloading equipment before going into a bin. Lock switches in the off position
- Never let children ride or play in bins or on grain trucks, wagons or grain piles
- If a person becomes trapped in grain, shut off power unloading equipment immediately. Turn on the aeration fan and call your local rescue squad
Machinery Safety
- There are 300 tractor fatalities annually
- Wear a seat belt and install a Rollover Protection Structure (ROPS)
- Keep wheels spread wide whenever possible
- Reduce speed when turning corners
- Travel with bucket low
- Back up steep slopes to prevent rollover
- Do not allow passengers to ride on tractor or in bucket
Manure Safety
- Manure pits produce four harmful gases: hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane which can accumulate in high concentrations
- Children and adults can drown in pits, commonly as deep as 8 feet
- Pits typically have very steep walls, making escape nearly impossible
- Hydrogen Sulfide: smells like rotten eggs; causes paralysis of breathing; is flammable
- Carbon Dioxide: odorless and colorless; can cause suffocation
- Ammonia: odor of smelling salts; burns eyes, nose, throat and lungs; found in almost all animal buildings
- Methane: odorless, flammable, and explosive
Pesticides
- Never leave pesticides unattended
- Pesticides must be stored in a separate area for chemicals in the original, labeled container
- The storage area must be locked, screened and ventilated to the outside with chemical storage warning placards
- Storage area should be cool and dry to prevent product breakdown or inactivation
- Insecticides, herbicides and fungicides should be stored separately from each other
- Protective clothing (gloves, hat, coveralls, boots, eye and respiratory equipment) must be worn when handling pesticides and other chemicals
- Don't walk or play where pesticides have been sprayed
- Stay inside during crop-dusting
- Lock up coated seeds–do not ingest
Rural Road Safety
- Buckle up on farm equipment and vehicles
- Share the road with slow-moving farm
machinery
- Never ride in the back of a pickup
- Drive carefully on gravel
- Watch for stop signs and obey traffic rules
- When driving farm machinery, obey traffic laws and yield to other vehicles
Animal Handling
