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:
- Assessment (identifying hazards)
- Action plan (decide what to do to prevent injury and set targets to complete action)
- 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.