Building on last year’s Be an AgSafe Family safety week campaign, which aimed to keep kids safe on farms, this March the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) is turning its eyes on the safety of producers themselves.
A symbol of the 2017 “Appealing to Adults” safety week campaign will start popping up on lapels across the country.
Affectionately called “twibbons” in the past, Kenda Lubeck, a farm safety coordinator for Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, came up with the twine creations along with coworkers back in 2012 to raise awareness about farm safety.
“We wanted a visual that would encourage discussions for everybody who has a stake in farm safety; whether it was somebody consuming food or the farmer putting it in the ground, you could identify yourself with the role that you could play in farm safety,” Lubeck said, adding, “we had a pretty good run with it!”
At first, the ribbons were made of actual twine, since it is such a representative emblem for farming, but organizers found it was too difficult to work with.
Though the response to the campaign was favourable, Lubeck said ultimately the team decided it could only be pushed for so long until interest in them waned.
It was a coincidence the group had just started to talk about potentially reviving the initiative again in 2016 when CASA called proposing a national AgSafe Ribbon campaign in celebration of Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (CASW).
“Ag Safety Week is about awareness and education,” said Robin Anderson, CASA’s communication coordinator.
“The AgSafe Ribbon is another tool we can use to raise awareness about farm safety across Canada.”
CASA is planning on distributing the AgSafe ribbons through supporters of Ag Safety Week.
“Sponsors, friends, CASA members are all encouraged to request ribbons to distribute,” said Anderson.
“The success of Ag Safety Week depends on these organizations getting the word out about farm safety.”
Individuals are also encouraged to request bundles of ribbons through CASA’s website for farm safety associations, agricultural groups, producer organizations, and agribusiness employees.
Anderson said the ribbons are for anyone that is involved in the agricultural community and wants to show their support for farm safety.
For the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association.
