Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development Activities

"PLAN. FARM. SAFETY"

Dates: March 11 - 17, 2012

2012 is year three of the 3-Year "Plan. Farm. Safety" theme

Background: Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (CASW) is an annual event presented by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada along with more than 500 farm safety advocate organizations across Canada including Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development.

Theme: "PLAN. FARM. SAFETY" is the theme of this three-year Canadian Agricultural Safety campaign. Each aspect of the theme has been promoted over the three years. 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.

Statistics: On average, 115 people are killed and at least 1,500 are hospitalized for farm-related incidents in Canada each year reports the Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program. In 2006 alone a total of 13,801 Canadian farms reported one or more medically treated or lost time injuries, reports Statistics Canada. The most frequent causes of farm-related injuries include the unsafe use of equipment or material-handling practices, followed by fatigue, trying to save time and miscommunication between workers, says the Census of Agriculture 2001. And common sense tells us: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

AAF Activities: Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development is helping to promote Canadian Agricultural Safety Week and bring awareness to the issue of farm safety with the following activities:

Media Campaign: A special edition of Agri-news will feature farm safety week information. Farm safety staff will be available to answer media inquiries about safety week.

Safety Up! Campaign

• A campaign to increase farm safety awareness in young adult farmers. This includes a series of fact sheets, along with promotional items and training seminars which are being developed to increase educational opportunities and farm safety awareness in rural Alberta.

• A series of displays, activities and learning tools are available to educate youth at a critical stage in life on how to value safety on the farm. Check out our learning resources currently available.

• Safety information is available on the Canadian Agriculture Safety Association website at www.casa-acsa.ca or on Ropin' the Web at www.agriculture.alberta.ab.ca/farmsafety.

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