It’s National Farm Safety and Health Week. This year’s motto is "No one can take your place."
The program aims to bring safety awareness information to farmers and the public this harvest season.
Each day of safety week, The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety offers a free online webinar series specific to a farm safety or health topic.
Dan Neenan is the Director of the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety.
“Monday is equipment and rural roadway safety, Tuesday is health and wellness, Wednesday is priority population, the really young and the elderly. Thursday is confined spaces and Friday is working with brain health,” said Neenan.
Neenan said with daylight ending sooner in the fall, drivers should always be on the lookout for tractors, especially at night.
“Tractors are the number one cause of injuries and fatalities. Whether it be rollovers, run-overs, or PTO entanglements. So it's always good to take a look at the tractor, and make sure, you know, that all the safety systems are in place," said Neenan. "Or they are replaced if you had to take them off to replace a part, to be able to do that. And you know, just take some time this fall harvest season.”
The National Farm Safety and Health Week was originally established through a proclamation by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, making this the 73rd year of observance.
Neenan said this year’s motto of “No one can take your place” was chosen to bring awareness to loss of family farms. He said all too often if the primary farmer is injured or killed, the family is not able to maintain the farm.
Neenan asked drivers to stay alert, slow down and have patience with farmers working this harvest season.
The week concludes Friday with a webinar on how farmers can protect their minds from the stress of harvest season.
