ALMA – Accidents in the agriculture sector are common, but they can often be avoided by taking some additional safety precautions and by knowing the equipment around you.
Walter Grose, the secretary of Wellington County Farm and Home Safety Association, has been a strong advocate of promoting safety in the agricultural sector.
Also the president of Husky Farm Equipment Ltd. in Alma, Grose said some of the most common issues in Ontario are tractor rollovers and tractor run overs.
“A tractor rollover is when you’re tipping the tractor over,” Grose explained. “And it can be because you run off the road, or because you catch some loose gravel at the edge of the road and you flip the tractor or you jackknife the tractor and then roll it.”
Rollovers can also involve pulling heavy loads such as a tree, stump, or barn, and the tractor rolling over backwards.
A tractor run over, on the other hand, is just like it sounds – when you run over someone.
“So that’s because they don’t see you and they want to see daddy and they run out to the tractor to see daddy and daddy doesn’t see them and then backs over,” Grose explained.
Four-wheeler accidents, he added, are also a very prominent safety issue the agriculture sector faces.
The reason for this is children may not be getting properly trained or they begin riding too young.
“So make sure that the children are properly trained and know where the brakes are and know how to use them,” he explained.
“And if the neighbours come and they want to have a ride, the answer should be no,” he added. “They have to be used to it.”
Children who grew up on a farm, would be driving a lawn mower and operating a tractor by the age of 12, Grose explained.
“You were doing things with vehicles and/or farm equipment all the time,” he said. “So when you went to a friend’s house, and then you got on a four-wheeler, you could drive around or you could go with places and you knew what you were doing.”
However, in today’s society, people that are coming to visit at the farm aren’t familiar with any of the machinery because families are becoming a few generations removed and don’t have that experience.
In addition to machinery mishaps, Grose pointed to another common safety issue on the farm, which is the different gases being used.
Come springtime, farmers begin filling the silos with haylage again, which involves using silo gases to ferment the feed.
Manure gas is another one commonly used for mixing manure for the spring to spread on the fields.
“So we have to be cautious about those two gases,” he said, advising people “to test the air before you go anywhere near it and stay away from liquid manure pits and from silos that are sealed.”
As for avoiding tractor rollovers and runovers, Grose said first, make sure the equipment is properly sized for the tractor. Also make sure that if the unit is large that it has brakes, so that you can stop.
“You should be aware of your surroundings,” he added. “If you’re on a road, you should be aware of the cars around you,” and drivers should also be wary of potholes on the road.
“If you’re hauling manure, try and stay up on the pavement part of the road rather than on the gravel,” he advised.
“So that way, then you’re staying on the smooth part of the road, and then you’re not pushing the gravel down or touching the edge of the gravel and pulling it off into the ditch.”
Grose also reminds people to always wear safety glasses when operating machinery.
Another important side of the conversation, Grose pointed out, is regular car traffic.
“The regular commuting traffic needs to watch out for tractors and the people using the highway,” he explained.
“They need to be cautious that the farmers are driving slow, and there’s no time to get around them.”
The amount of time a car spends waiting behind a tractor, he said, is equivalent to waiting at two stoplights.
“But they get behind the tractor and the first thing they want to do is whip out try and pass and they don’t leave enough room,” he added. “The tractors are going faster than you think they are when you have to get out and try and pass it.”
Grose said it’s the general population that isn’t driving the farm equipment that needs to be more cautious and aware.
“That’s what causes the accident is when somebody tries to pass a tractor and then pulls in too soon and cuts the tractor off,” he explained. “And then he runs into the ditch and rolls a tractor.”
People also don’t realize how wide the equipment is.
“You come to a bridge and then you’ve got to pull out or you come to a sign or a mailbox and then you have to pull out and so many people, they sneak along the edge of the tractor thinking that they’re going to save some room,” he said.
“And then the mailbox comes, the guy pulls out and he hits a car because he’s pulling out to get around the mailbox and the other cars trying to sneak past them.”
Vision is a big problem too, because like any vehicle, while the tractors have mirrors, sometimes they can’t see a small car right beside them if the car is in their blind spot.
“The Safety First is one of our slogans and it seems like it gets lost in the spring rush,” Grose said.
“And that’s when accidents happen, when you’re racing or rushing.”
As part of his farm safety work, Grose said he’s telling farmers now to stay up on the road and use the road properly so that cars realize tractors are also a vehicle and they’re taking up the road.
“Then they know that ‘okay, well, now I can’t sneak past’ and they got to wait until the proper time so they can get past,” he explained.
Even though the pandemic stopped people from gathering and doing things, farming didn’t stop, Grose pointed out, and farm safety accidents still happened.
“That’s our main purpose is to bring it to people’s attention saying ‘hey, this can happen you better be aware of it,’” he explained.
As for Farm Safety Days, the Wellington County Farm and Home Safety Association will have a table at the Alma Toy Show on March 13 from 10am to 3pm.
The association is also continuing to offer its Farm Safety Days at regional Parochial Schools this spring and fall, Grose said, noting to stay tuned for upcoming Farm Safety Days.
