| |
Farm Safety Newsletter Winter 2009 | |
|
| |
|
|
| |
There’s no such thing as “hog heaven” when you’re working in a hog barn. The dangers are too great. Ignore the dangers and risk your life, says Safety Manager Scott Hyshka, who develops and implements the Hog Barn
Safety Program for Sunterra Farms in Alberta.
“Sunterra has some 7,500 sows on farms in Alberta,” he says. “Workplace safety is a huge component of our business, but there’s no doubt that workplace safety is an important issue for all hog producers.”
Exposure to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a serious hazard in a hog barn setting. Death or injury happens fast. One or two breaths of air with as little as 600 parts per million (ppm) H2S can cause a person to lose consciousness.
“The consequences of exposure to H2S can be fatal,” says Hyshka. “New employees at Sunterra go through orientation involving safety, and they are required to take a half-day classroom session on safety procedures. They are also tested on their safety knowledge.”
Hyshka says farmers working on tight margins under great pressure often push harder than safety procedures should allow. “Farmers often rush too much, and that – plus inexperienced workers – opens the door to accidents.”
He also points out that workers with little or no experience are being hired more often, as a result of the labour shortage in Alberta. “Inexperienced workers increase the safety risk,” says Hyshka.
Sometimes new workers bring bad habits with them that they learned on other farms. “To work safely and observe safety procedures, you have to throw the way you did things before out the window – and stop relying on common sense. Nothing should be common sense-based. It should be procedure- and training-based.”
Training in Sunterra’s safety programs involves more than following written safety and training procedures. “Just because a person is trained on a tractor doesn’t mean they’re quite ready to drive it,” he says. “We put only specific people on jobs. They are not only trained, but they are the people we feel confident understand the risks.”
Hyshka offers this advice to farmers and other safety officers: “Develop a culture of safety. Make sure you have buy-in on safety procedures before your worker takes on even the first task.”
Raising the fear factor isn’t a bad idea, either. “Opening people’s eyes to the real consequences and learning about fatalities and other people’s near misses can drive home the need to practise safety procedures. The risk is your own life.” |
|
| |
|
|
| |
For more information about the content of this document, contact Kenda Lubeck.
This information published to the web on July 29, 2009.
|
|