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Training Room 1

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Course: AGR3000
Book: Training Room 1
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Date: Tuesday, 16 September 2025, 11:27 AM

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Table of contents

1. Training Room 1

Training Session

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

Welcome!

You are about to enter Training Room 1. Here you will learn to identify and describe potential agricultural hazards that may be present in your worksite.


hazard: On an agricultural worksite, a hazard can be defined as something that could cause you or others harm.

 

From "Hazard management: Six questions to keep you safe" in Alberta's Farm Safety Newsletter.

In this training room you will find information about Project 1: Creating a Health and Safety Assessment Tool. You will work on this project throughout the training room and submit it at the end of the training room. You will also work through a series of sessions, each of which will support your learning and provide you with resources to complete your project.

 

Learning Objectives of Training Room 1

When you have completed the sessions of this training room, you will be able to do the following:

  • identify and describe chemical, physical, ergonomic, biological, and psychosocial hazards within an agricultural environment

  • identify and describe hazards particular to farm machinery, animal management, and agricultural environments.

  • research and identify legislation and/or exemptions for agricultural health and safety
Estimated Required Time

It will take you about 6–8 hours to complete this training room.

Setting Your Timeline—Determining Your Goals

You can click on the Training Room 1—Goal Setting Workplan to anticipate the work that you will be responsible for in this training room. Save the workplan document and set goals for yourself regarding the timeline you plan to follow to complete the assigned work.

  • On the workplan, indicate the date when you expect to submit each of the assignments.

  • Submit your workplan to your teacher.

  • Keep track of your completion dates and be prepared to share with your teacher your reflections about your successes and challenges in meeting your goals.

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1.1. Page 2

Demo of Lesson Template

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

 

Session 1: Your Rights and Responsibilities for Workplace Safety



Courtesy of Gordon Coulthart and The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association

According to the Alberta Government's Workplace Health and Safety, workers under 25 are 33% more likely to be injured than older co-workers. Young workers in all industries need to be aware of hazards in their places of work. You have the right to expect hazards to be kept under control so that you and your co-workers are safe when working.

Learning Target

In this session you will identify your basic rights and responsibilities for general workplace safety. You will explore and identify the law as it applies to agricultural health and safety.

Do this by answering these questions:

  • What do you believe are your fundamental rights and responsiblilites as a young worker when it comes to safety on the job?

  • What are the legislation and exemptions for agricultural health and safety on Alberta farms?

 

 

 

 

 

You Have the Right to Be Safe!

Watch and Listen

Use these two resources to help you make some decisions about your personal health and safety in the workplace:

  1. Click the link to read information about the rights and responsibilities of new and young workers on Alberta's Safe and Fair Workplaces site. What are the 10 most important questions to ask your employer?

  2. Click the link to WorkSafeBC's Raise Your Hand website.

    • Click on the Toolkit tab and watch the training videos on the website.

    • Click on the Industry Vitals tab and compare the industry vitals charts to find out the statistics about young workers' injuries in a variety of industries, including agriculture.

Employer's Responsibilities and Your Rights

In Canada, it's the employer's responsibility to provide safety training and equipment to ensure worker safety. It's up to the employee, though, to make sure the or she can do the job safely. Working together to create and maintain a safe, productive working environment is the best bet.

Employers are required under Bill C-45 to do their best to keep their employees from harm. This means that employers should instruct their employees to complete tasks in the safest way possible, rather than a faster or more profitable way.

What can an employer do to provide a safe work environment?

  • Provide complete safety training programs (training, safety equipment, safe environment and properly maintained and serviced equipment).

  • Support management and supervisory staff in enforcing safety protocols.

  • Have procedures in place for reporting unsafe conditions.

  • Establish joint health and safety committees to inspect the worksite.

  • Listen to reports from employees.

  • Monitor operations to correct unsafe situations.

You Can Be Responsible for Yourself!

Your decisions about how you get involved in your own worksite safety are important. You have the right, but are not obligated by law, to maintain your safety and to have access to safety equipment and training.


Dynamic Graphics/liquidlibrary/Thinkstock

You have three basic rights as a worker:

1. You have the right to know about the hazards of your job. You should know how to recognize and deal with those hazards so they won't cause injury or health problems to you or others.

2. You have the right to participate in health and safety in the workplace. Your supervisor and employer should consult with you on matters that affect your safety as a worker. This makes sense because you, as a worker, perform the everyday tasks and face the hazards directly. You can point to health and safety situations you're concerned about.

3. You have the right to refuse work that you believe to be unusually dangerous to yourself or others. If an employee has reason to believe that a situation presents a danger, he/she can refuse to work. This is one of your most important rights–it can save your life.

 

 

Along with your rights, you have the following responsibilities:

  • Demonstrate responsible behaviour. Take care of your health and safety and the health and safety of other workers who are affected by your actions.

  • Practise safe work habits.

  • Wear all appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

  • Know how to use equipment properly. Use equipment the way it was intended to be used.

  • Report unsafe conditions.

What are the legislation and exemptions for agricultural health and safety on Alberta farms?

How do health and safety regulations on a farm compare to other worksites?

There are three main sources of legislation related to workplace safety:


Courtesy of Gordon Coulthart and The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association

1. Occupational Health and Safety
Most farming operations in Alberta are currently exempt from Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act. Because of this, when there are injuries or fatalities on a farm, there is no investigation by OHS representatives to help find ways to improve safety practices on the farm.

Bill C-45
This is federal legislation under Canadian Criminal Code that protects workers by establishing duties for workplace health and safety. Bill C-45 protects you as a worker but also requires that you take responsibilities, as stated above, to keep yourself and others safe on the job. As a result of Bill C-45, section 217.1 of the Criminal Code states:


"Everyone who undertakes, or has the authority, to direct how another person does work or performs a task is under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to that person, or any other person, arising from that work or task."

More information can be found at http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/legisl/billc45.html#_1_1.

Workers' Compensation

As a farm worker in Alberta, you are not necessarily covered by the insurance of the Workers' Compensation Act if injured. A farm owner can choose to purchase Workers' Compensation Board insurance or buy insurance through a private company for themselves and their employees. It is important to ask about insurance coverage. You can get individual insurance privately to help cover costs if you are injured on the job.

Alberta does have a Farm Safety Program website with links resources to help farmers and workers enhance their health and safety. Check the website for Worker Safety Fact Sheets to help you understand your rights and responsibilities.


Discuss

Rights and Responsibilities Discussion

Think about your own personal experiences around safety in your home and agricultural worksite.Think about the information you discovered while exploring the websites above.

  • What do you believe are your fundamental rights and responsiblilites as a young worker when it comes to safety on the job?

  • How can you best keep yourself safe as a worker?

Choose one of the following ways to share your responses to these questions:

  • Contribute your thoughts to the online discussion and respond to one other student's posting in the Rights and Responsibilities Discussion.

OR

  • Add your comments on this discussion to your journal or blog.

AND

  • Use the Rhythmixer found on the Raise Your Hand website to create a safety message describing your safety rights, and share it with a classmate, family member, or co-worker.

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1.2. Page 3

Training Session

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

 

Session 2: Agricultural Injuries—A Serious Concern


Courtesy of Gordon Coulthart and The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association

Farmers, farm families and farm workers are the most important resources in agriculture. Farm injuries cause pain and suffering and cost time and money. Farm safety is both an individual and an industry responsibility. What are the major causes of agricultural injuries?

Learning Target

In this session you will explore data about agricultural injuries and predict some hazards that are part of an agricultural environment. Questions you can ask yourself as you go through the information in this session are:

  • What are some of the major causes of agricultural injuries?
  • What potential agricultural hazards are most often associated with injuries?

 

 

 

 

Watch and Listen

Watch these two videos to hear case studies from farmers who have had personal experience with hazards and safety issues on their farms:

Time to Practise

What Are the Major Causes of Agricultural Injuries?

Farm-related incidents cause an average of 115 deaths and 1,500 hospitalized injuries in Canada each year, according to the Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting program. Read the following statistics about Alberta.

  • Farm-related injuries in Alberta over an eight-year period:
    • Livestock involved in nearly 50% of injuries
    • 80% of injuries are suffered by males
    • Most common injury: upper extremities (fingers and thumbs)

  • Farm-related deaths in Alberta over a 20-year period:
    • 18 deaths per year (average)
    • 70% involve farm machinery
    • 87% are male

Organizing Knowledge

Statistics are collected each year by hospitals throughout the province. You can find the most current statistics by examining the Alberta Farm Safety Program website and clicking on the Statistics link. Click on the most recent 20xx Alberta Farm Related Fatalities link and use the statistics for the work below.

Note: The Farm Accident Monitoring System (FAMS) is no longer in use. For farm injury statistics, we are now being referred to Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting (CAIR).

Your Task: Organize your thinking for your project

Your project for this training room will ask you to develop a Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool. Begin to consider what hazards should be managed on your worksite in order to keep farm workers safe.

  1. Analyze some of the data found in the charts and graphs in the most current Alberta Farm Related Fatalities statistics and Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting (CAIR) agricultural fatalities reports. Keep the following questions in mind as you examine the data:

    • What were the major causes of the agricultural fatalities listed?
    • What were hazards that were most often associated with fatalities?
    • In your opinion, what is the most important way that these fatalities could be avoided?


  2. Determine some key categories that might help you organize the hazards that you would like to assess with your project (examples: farm equipment, animal care). Record them on your Project 1 Planning Template. Save your template for reference. Examples: farm equipment, animal care.

 

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1.3. Page 4

Training Session

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

 

Session 3: Identifying Agricultural Hazards


iStockphoto/Thinkstock

The farm manager's responsibility is to survey regularly for hazards and manage and control them to prevent injuries. Each individual working on the farm should be involved in this process. There are three key steps to a safety management plan:

  1. Assessment (identifying hazards)
  2. Action plan (decide what to do to prevent injury and set targets to complete action)
  3. Communicate and train (ensure everyone is aware and involved)

Hazard assessment and control is a common concern in all workplaces. The Alberta Government has developed online safety training courses to help people better understand hazard assessment and control.

Identifying Types of Hazards

Watch and Listen

Interactive Online Activity

Click here to work through interactive activities and quizzes from Work Safe Alberta that will help you understand more about the different types of hazards: physical, chemical, biological and psychological. You will also learn about hazard assessment and control in the general workplace.

Technical Note: When clicking the link above, be sure to accept secure and non-secure components of this website if asked, in order for link to function properly. If you have difficulty accessing the site, use the following URL in a new window: http://employment.alberta.ca/whs/learning/hazard/Hazard.htm.

Time to Practise

How Can Agricultural Workplace Hazards Be Identified?


Prepare for your project, Health and Safety Assessment Tool, and begin to identify some of the hazards in your agricultural work environment.

You can try out a few of the checklists below to see examples of questions/statements you could develop for your project.

Checking In

Choose at least four appropriate interactive checklists below. Use them to help you think about and assess possible hazards in your agricultural environment.

If you are unsure about a particular safety procedure you read about on these surveys, ask your worksite supervisor to tell you more.

 

Discuss

Your task: Potential Agricultural Hazards Discussion

Have you experienced or do you know of a farm injury in your agricultural setting? Reflect on the statistical data you examined earlier, the digital stories from farmers or your personal experiences.

To Do

Comment on two potential hazards in an agricultural setting you are familiar with and distinguish what kind of hazard each one is (Physical, Chemical, Biological and Psychological). Predict the resulting injuries that could occur if each of these hazards are not controlled.

Do this by

  • Posting your comment and responding to another student's post in the online Potential Agricultural Hazards and their Controls Discussion.

OR

  • Adding to your journal or blog with your comments on this discussion.

AND

  • Sharing your ideas with a classmate and another worker on your farm or your supervisor.

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1.4. Page 5

Training Session

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

 

Session 4: Identifying Agricultural Hazards—Farm Machinery

Farm Equipment Injuries—No Margin for Error


© Fotolyse/23883926/Fotolia

According to Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting, over half of the agricultural deaths reported were due to four machine-related causes: machine rollovers, machine runovers, machine entanglements, and traffic collisions. Being aware of the hazards and controlling them by taking part in proper training, following safety procedures, and using appropriate protective equipment is critical.

Learning Target

In this session you will learn about the major hazards related to farm machinery. As you learn, you might ask yourself the following questions:

  • What farm machinery presents the most significant hazard to you in your agricultural workplace?

  • What can you do to promote farm-machiner safety in the workplace?

Hazards Associated with Large Farm Machinery

Watch and Listen

Many different kinds of machinery are used on a farm. Tractors and augers are the machines associated with the highest rate of injury. Read the information and/or watch the following videos to learn more about the hazards of different types of machinery on a farm:

Video clips from Farm Safety: It's No Accident (Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development)
Fact sheets from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development or Work Safe Manitoba

Hazards Associated with Points of Contact with Machinery Parts

gears
© John Sfondilias/1158677/Fotolia

It is important to have an awareness of the major hazards related to farm machinery. Particular points of contact with machinery can cause injury. Mowers, tractors, shredders, harvesters, grinders, blowers, augers, and balers have specific characteristics and hazards. These machines can crush you or pull you in. You can be hit by loose items thrown by these machines. The cutting edges, gears, chains, revolving shafts, rotating blades, and levers are all hazards that could cause injury. Taking precautions not to fall while working on or near farm machinery is also important.

From Agricultural Machinery Hazards (Farm Safety Association Inc.)

Learn about these point-of-contact hazards by reading the resources below.


Organizing Knowledge

Read the information and look carefully at the images on the following documents to learn about the following point-of-contact hazards:

  • Pinch points
  • Wrap points
  • Shear points
  • Pull-in points
  • Crush points

Agricultural Machinery Hazards published by the Farm Safety Association, Canada

Machinery Safety on the Farm published by the Virginia Cooperative Extension, USA

Try This

Try the Points of Contact Hazard Game to check your understanding of pinch points, wrap points, crush points, pull-in points, and shear points.

Time to Practise

Identifying Farm Machinery Hazards

  1. Use this link (or go to the www.casa-acsa.ca website and search for farm safety game) to determine if you can find the hazards at various sites during a simulated farm safety inspection. Scroll to the bottom of the video page to find the game.

  2. How safe would you be around farm machinery? Use this Top 25 Ways to Prevent Injury with Power Equipment Checklist from the Alberta Government's Farm Safety: It's No Accident to rate your own power equipment safety knowledge.

  3. Use the Power Equipment Safety Survey interactive checklist to think about and assess possible hazards while working with power equipment.

Your task: Project 1—Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool

Think about the following questions:

  • What kinds of farm machinery are most useful to the work on your agricultural worksite of choice?

  • What hazards most concern you when working with this machinery?

If you want to choose farm machinery as one of the focus hazards for your project, begin some work now. You can use the Project 1 Template to collect your ideas.

 

  • Determine the farm machinery hazards you find the most worrisome on your worksite. Think about the point-of-contact terms that you learned above and describe the hazards.

  • What question(s) would you ask your supervisor to help you assess the hazards of an unfamiliar piece of farm machinery?

  • What question(s) would you ask your supervisor to help you assess the hazards of particular operating procedures for a piece of farm machinery?

  • What kinds of injuries could you be at risk of?

Possible resources

  • Use the websites, videos, and checklists above to help your thinking.

  • Ask your supervisor or a co-worker to help you develop you ideas for questions and statements.

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1.5. Page 6

Training Session

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

Promoting Farm Safety

Session 5: Identifying Agricultural Hazards—Livestock Safety


Courtesy of Gordon Coulthart and The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association

Statistics indicate that farm machinery and livestock are involved in the majority of all farming injuries. According to Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, approximately half of all farm-related injuries in Alberta involve large animals, including cattle and horses. Livestock behaviour needs to be understood by all workers so that the animals experience minimal stress. Awareness will also help to minimize hazards, resulting in a safer work environment.

Learning Target

In this session you will learn to describe the potential hazards related to animal management on a farm. Consider these questions as you go through this session:

  • What makes working with livestock so hazardous?

  • How can you best prepare yourself to be aware, safe and injury-free when working with animals?

 

 

 

 

 

How Hazardous Are Those Critters?


Alberta Farm Safety. Used with permission.

This graph, from the 2009 Alberta Farm Injury Report, shows which animals are most often involved in handler injuries. Handlers incur these injuries by:

  • being kicked, stepped on or crushed

  • being hit by gates as they open

  • having fingers, hands or arms pinched by gates and chutes as they close

  • slipping and falling because of wet floors and slippery corrals

  • being cut or jabbed by veterinary instruments

  • falling off of horses.

Watch and Listen

Watch the video from Farm Safety: It's No Accident to better understand the most obvious livestock-handling hazards.

Click here for the video: Livestock-Handling Safety Video

Livestock-Handling Hazards

Understanding animal behaviour plays a large part in keeping yourself safe. Animals see their environment differently than we do. For example, rapid movement can activate fear in animals.


© James Murphy/900744/Fotolia

Fear and aggression are displayed by

  • raised or pinned ears
  • raised/swishing tail
  • raised back hair
  • bared teeth
  • pawing/stomping the ground
  • snorting

Watch and Listen

Safe Animal Handling

Watch these videos and do some research on your own to learn how your awareness of animal behaviour and proper handling techniques can reduce hazards.

  1. Choose one of the following two videos from Alberta Agriculture so that you can learn about and describe appropriate ways to handle a particular farm animal:

  2. Learn from 4-H students in this video of how to increase your awareness of Safe Animal Handling. (This one takes a while to load.)

  3. Search the web to find information on handling the kinds of animals you encounter regularly on your agricultural worksite. (This could include a variety of livestock or working farm pets, etc.)

Be prepared to use your knowledge in the assignment, Safe Animal Handling, described below.

 

Organizing Knowledge

Understanding an Animal's Sense of Space: Appropriate Ways to Approach an Animal


Courtesy of the CFA and The Canadian Agricultural Safety

In order to safely handle an animal, it is important to understand how to manage the space around it. Moving effectively in and out of an animal's flight zone, controlling movement by adjusting your position in front of or behind the point of balance, and staying out of the animal's blind spot are all skills for safe animal handling.

The flight zone is an animal's personal zone. Each flight zone will depend on that individual animal and how calm or stressed it is. When a handler enters an animal's flight zone, the animal will move away.

The point of balance is at the animal's shoulder within the flight zone. Generally, animals will move forward if the handler is behind the point of balance or backward if the handler is in front of the point of balance.

The blind spot or kick zone is the area where animals can kick you. Avoid the kick zone by approaching an animal from the side, ensuring the animal can see you. Generally animals will turn to look at what is entering their kick zone.


Courtesy of the CFA and The Canadian Agricultural Safety

From Animal Safety. Publication by Government of Alberta: Agriculture and Rural Development

Use your knowledge of Safe Animal Handling to guide the animal safely towards its pen.

Resources for Further Information

Refer to the following PDF documents for more information and images about approaching and handling animals.

Time to Practise

Take a moment to reflect on what you've learned about livestock handling. Using the information above and your experiences with livestock, you will demonstrate your understanding of how to safely handle an animal.

Assignment—Safe Animal Handling

Your task: Animal Handling Assignment

Demonstrate your understanding of the hazards associated with animal handling by providing an example of how you would handle a farm animal of your choice at an agricultural worksite.

Include responses to the following questions:

  1. What you would look for to determine if the animal is hazardous?

  2. How would you approach the animal with safety in mind?

  3. How would you best use your understanding of the animal's personal space to maintain control?

  4. Are there any special precautions you would take to keep yourself safe?

You can choose from any of the following ways to demonstrate your understanding, or develop a product of your own in consultation with your teacher:

  • a written description of the animal-handling event
  • an audio clip describing the animal-handling event (MP3)
  • a labelled diagram, which may be hand-drawn, scanned, or developed on illustration software
  • a video clip demonstrating your work with an animal or a video of an animal-handling event with your narration

Tools

Use this Demonstration Animal Handling Assignment rubric to support your work.

 

Submission

Submit your Safe Animal Handling Assignment to your teacher.

 

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1.6. Page 7

Training Session

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

Promoting Farm Safety

Session 6: Identifying Agricultural Hazards—Farm Environmental Hazards

 

cow slipping
Courtesy of Gordon Coulthart and The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association

Farm workers must be aware of a wide range of environmental hazards that are potentially harmful to their health and well-being. Environmental hazards on a farm include water hazards, excessive noise exposure, sun exposure and heat-related illnesses, air-borne particles, fuel and other toxic pollutants.

Learning Target

In this session you will learn to identify some environmental hazards common to many agricultural settings. Consider the following question as you go through this session:

  • What can I do to prevent injury from the environmental hazards in my workplace?


















Identifying Environmental Hazards

There are hazards that you encounter in your agricultural environment on a daily basis that can cause short-term injury or long-term illness. Awareness and assessment of the hazards you work with are the first steps to keeping workers healthy and safe.

Click each of the tabs below to explore the various environmental hazards on an agricultural worksite.

  • Noise

  • Sun

  • Heat

  • Water

  • Human Factors

Noise Exposure Hazards


Alberta Farm Safety. Used with permission.

"Did you know? A squealing pig can hit 130 decibels. This is louder than thousands of cheering fans and screaming guitars at a hard rock concert!"

From Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. Safety Up—On Hearing.

Prolonged exposure to excessive noise levels may result in nerve damage and possibly permanent hearing loss. Noise can also lead to fatigue and reduced work output. Hearing loss accumulates over time and can be caused by noise emitted from such things as tractors, grain dryers, power tools and squealing pigs.

Decibel Scale—Strength of Sound Vibrations from Safety Up—On Hearing.

To Do
  1. Read more about the hazards of farm noise in the Safety Up—On Hearing article from the Alberta Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

  2. Find out what to do to protect your hearing on the Youth in Agriculture website from the US Department of Labor.

  3. Test how clearly you can hear in different levels of background noise by trying this hearing test at www.hear-it.org.

Sunshine: A Hazard?

sun safety
Alberta Farm Safety. Used with permission.

The sun can be a hazard to farmworkers who are often outside and exposed to the sun's radiation for long periods of time. Sunlight can cause damage to skin and eyes through long term exposure to ultraviolet rays. Taking precautions against health risks from this hazard is important.

To Do

This Powerpoint, Sun Safety, will help you understand the hazards and health issues caused when you are not careful to control this hazard.

Powerpoint from Canadian Center for Health and Safety in Agriculture - University of Saskatchewan

Image from Farm Safety Posters: Protective Gear - Government of AB: Dept. of Agriculture and Rural Development

Heat Stress

High temperatures, high humidity, sunlight, and heavy workloads increase the likelihood of heat stress for farm workers.

To Do

Click on the picture to link to an article. Read up on research looking in to how young farm workers can be exposed to the hazard of heat stress.

Read Safety Up: On Sun Exposure to learn about warning signs of heat stress and things you can do to control this hazard when you work in hot conditions.

Water Hazards

Many areas on a farm can be considered a drowning hazard including large areas such as ponds, sloughs, irrigation ditchs, and even the backyard recreational swimming pool. Even small sources of water such as rain barrels, paddling pools and buckets can be a hazard to small children.

Ensuring that there are effective barriers, signs and supervision of young people is just the beginning. You need to ensure that you have the water safety skills to keep youself safe.


Alberta Farm Safety. Used with permission.
To Do

Read the following fact sheet for more information what you can do to be alert and prepared for water hazards on your work site.

Click on link for an article from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development's: Safety Up - On Water Hazards.


Gordon Coulthart/Courtesy of Canadian Agricultural Safety Association

Human Factors

Ergonomic factors are factors in which the design and use of equipment in the workspace affects injury. Poor ergonomic design of equipment/space or improper use of equipment can be become a health and safety hazard. These ergonomic hazards could include:

  • Use of tools in awkward positions which can lead to musculoskeletal injuries.

  • Long periods of standing on concrete floors which can lead to lower back injury, sore legs and hips, varicose veins, and heel spurs.

  • Long periods sitting on equipment such as tractors, that have improper seat adjustments. Continuous vibration can lead to shoulder, lower back, spine, hip and leg injury.

  • Improper lifting and carrying techniques when moving heavy supplies and equipment which can lead to back and shoulder injuries.

Human factors, such as increased fatigue and stress, are also important hazards that can increase the risk of injury.






Alberta Farm Safety. Used with permission.
To Do

Watch this video clip from the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association to learn more about ergonomic hazards and how to prevent them. Scroll down the video page and watch Prevention of Musculoskeletal Injuries.

 

 

Time to Practise

Your task: Work on your project

Choose one of above the enviromental hazards that you could encounter in your workplace.

  • Determine the type of environmental hazard you have chosen and how this hazard could affect or injure you. (Remember: physical, chemical, biological and psychological.)

  • Create at least five questions/statements/images that would help you identify the different things you need to look for when assessing this environmental hazard in your workplace.

  • Add these statements/questions/images to your Project 1—Health and Safety Assessment Planning Template.

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1.7. Page 8

Training Session

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

Congratulations! You have completed the sessions for Training Room 1. Check to ensure that you have completed and submitted your Project 1 materials.

1.8. Training Room 1 Project

Training Session

Training Room 1: First Steps to Safety—Understanding Hazards

Project 1: Assessment of Potential Hazards in
Agricultural Settings—Creating a Health and Safety
Hazard Assessment Tool

Project Skill Level: Basic

Estimated Required Time: 2–3 hours (to be completed as you complete work in Training Room 1)

Project Introduction

This project will be completed as you work your way through this first training room. Training Room 1 will help you to learn about hazards in the workplace and specifically in agricultural areas. Although there are agricultural hazards common to all farms, each worksite is unique in the variety of hazards that are present, depending on the kind of farming that takes place. Your project will demonstrate how you can bring attention to possible hazards where you work.

Project 1: Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool

Your Task

Your project will require you to develop a Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool that is specific for your agricultural worksite or a worksite that you would choose to work on. This checklist will demonstrate that you have determined potential hazards on your worksite and are prepared to ask questions to bring attention to these hazards. You can use a variety of resources to help you develop your checklist.

  1. Choose your focus. To develop your Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool, you will begin by choosing three areas of focus:

    Select one of the following areas of focus:

    • farm machinery
    • animal handling

    AND

    Select any two of the following farmyard environmental hazards, which you learned about in this training room’s Environmental Hazards session:

    • noise
    • fuel
    • sun
    • heat
    • water
    • human factors

    Record your selected areas of focus on your Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool.

    Within each of your three areas of focus, keep in mind the various physical, chemical, biological and psychological hazards that could be present in your agricultural worksite. Be prepared to develop ten statements/questions for each of your three areas of focus.

    Example

    What Hazard Do You Observe? What Makes This a Hazardous Situation? How Might Someone Get Injured Due to This Hazard? Checklist Statement or Question for Your Supervisor

    farm machinery: Keys for the tractor are left in it.

    		    
    This photo shows a worker operating a back-mounted sprayer.
    BasieB/iStockphoto/Thinkstock    		    

  2. Find the information you need. Do some research to determine the particular hazards in the three areas of focus. You may want to use resources such as the following:

    • videos, interactive activities, and text resources provided throughout the training room

    • safety awareness materials currently available to you on your worksite

    • discussions with supervisors and fellow employees at your worksite

    • personal observations made when touring your worksite.

  3. Design and create. For each of the three areas of focus you have chosen, develop a series of at least ten organized statements or questions that will bring attention to the hazards you have determined could be present at your farm.

    Each statement or question should address important details of the hazards that need to be controlled for safety.

    Example

    What Hazard Do You Observe? What Makes This a Hazardous Situation? How Might Someone Get Injured Due to This Hazard? Checklist Statement or Question for Your Supervisor

    farm machinery: Keys for the tractor are left in it.

    Someone who is not trained to use the machinery could turn it on.

    Someone could get hurt if he or she is not prepared for the machinery to be turned on and running.

    Keys for machinery are removed when the machinery is not in use and are kept in a safe place.

    Or

    Are keys for machinery removed when the machinery is not in use?

    Are keys kept in a prearranged safe place when not in use?
    This photo shows a worker operating a back-mounted sprayer.
    BasieB/iStockphoto/Thinkstock

    Someone who is not wearing his or her personal protective equipment (PPE) could be exposed to hazardous chemicals.

    A person spraying a field could come in contact with the hazardous chemical.

    Check the label for proper protective measures.

    Or

    Are there any protective measures required when using this product?

    Is the operator familiar with the operation of this sprayer?

  4. Submit your work. You will submit a final copy of your Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool in the form that most suits you. It may be in any of the following formats:
  • checklist
  • series of questions or questionnaire
  • collection of images illustrating each hazard that requires assessment
Please remember to contact your teacher with questions, concerns, or requests for feedback while you are working on this project!

Tools

Use the Project 1: Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool Planning Template to support your work. You can use this document to collect information to build your tool.

  • The Self Assessment for Project 1 document needs to be completed midway through your work and upon completion of your work. This piece must be submitted to your teacher with your final project.

  • The AGR 3000 Project Rubric will help you assess your progress and guide your work. This rubric will be used to assess your work and final project.

Final Submission

Submit both your project Health and Safety Hazard Assessment Tool and your Self-Assessment for Project 1 to your teacher.

 

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