Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development (AARD) is looking for farmers in the area to attend an Alberta FarmSafe Plan workshop in Olds in early 2015, say officials.
A pilot of the Alberta FarmSafe Plan was initially conducted in 2013-14 with nine farmers participating. The workshop materials were then revised based on feedback from those that attended.
Now, an updated pilot will take place taking into account the feedback that was gathered. The new pilot will take in 50 to 75 farmers who want to implement a rigourous farm safety plan on their operations.
The upcoming workshops hope to get the involvement of farmers from a broad cross-section of the industry, providing those that attend a step-by-step process of how to develop and maintain an on-farm safety plan.
The workshops will cover eight elements of an effective safety plan, said Laurel Aitken, farm safety coordinator with AARD. A session covering the first four elements of an effective plan will take place in Olds on Jan. 16, 2015 with a session covering the latter four elements taking place one week later.
A venue has not yet been decided upon.
The first element of the FarmSafe Plan involves developing management leadership and organizational commitment.
“That is discussing what your policy is and what your values and beliefs are around safety for your farm business,” Aitken told the Gazette.
The second element is hazard assessment while another element closely linked to that is hazard mitigation or control. Other elements covered in the workshop include workers and farm managers conducting regular inspections to ensure that hazards are mitigated as much as possible.
Making sure all farm workers have the appropriate training and qualifications to do the work is also an important part of safety.
One of the most important parts of the workshop will cover how to respond in the case of an emergency.
“Sometimes stuff happens. So how are we going to handle that when it happens?” Aitken said.
How to investigate when an incident happens, and how to make changes to procedures will also be covered in the workshop. The last element covered will ensure that a record management system is in place to keep track of various aspects of a farm's operations.
“It's important to have a formalized plan,” she said.
Aitken said because the FarmSafe Plan was only initiated a year ago, the workshops allow AARD to improve the manual that accompanies the FarmSafe Plan.
“The idea is that the Alberta FarmSafe Plan will become a workshop that is available ongoing. Right now we have funding available and we're hoping that we can get some (ongoing) funding so that we can offer it free of charge (in the future),” she said.
Anyone wanting to register for the workshop can email Lindsay Rodriguez at [email protected] or call her at 780-427-4187.
"The idea is that the Alberta FarmSafe Plan will become a workshop that is available ongoing."Laurel Aitkenfarm safety coordinator AARD
