Farm Safety Program Announced

A new safety program will help Nova Scotia farm families prevent farm-related accidents and manage farm-safety issues.

Called The Standards of Practices for Nova Scotia Farmers and Farm Accident Risk Management Program, the program is one of Canada's most comprehensive. It consists of a manual and risk- management checklist and provides farmers the information and tools they need to manage farm-safety issues and protect themselves, their family and their employees from farm-related injuries.

Ernest Fage, Minister of Agriculture and Marketing, and Peter Hill, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, will launch the new program at 11:15 a.m. on Friday, March 10, at Central Equipment in Truro. It is being announced today to kick off National Farm Safety Week in the province.

The program was developed by the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture and Nova Scotia Farm Health and Safety Committee in partnership with the Nova Scotia departments of Agriculture and Marketing and Labour. The manual and checklist are free and will be available from local federation and provincial agricultural offices across the province by mid-April.

"Farm-related accidents impact the health and well-being of farm families which, in turn, has a ripple effect through our rural communities and our rural economy," said Mr. Fage. "Through this manual and checklist, the industry is taking proactive steps to prevent injuries on the farm and ensure a strong future for agriculture in Nova Scotia."

"In Canada, 188 people are killed and another 1,727 are seriously injured in farm-related accidents each year," said Mr. Hill. "In Nova Scotia alone, there are hundreds of farm-related injuries each year. Most of these accidents can be prevented with an organized and sensible approach to managing farm-safety issues and this new program provides that sensible approach."

Serious farm accidents in Nova Scotia have fallen from 22 in 1997 to 10 in 1999. However, there have been two fatal tractor roll- overs in the past 18 months.

"While our record is improving, one farm accident is too many," said Lloyd Evans, the federation's representative on the Farm Health Safety Committee. "We think this new program will go a long way in further improving our record of farm accidents in Nova Scotia."

National Farm Safety Week runs from March 8 to March 15 and this year's theme is Farm Safety Means Farm Safely -- Use ROPS and a Seatbelt. ROPS refers to roll-over protection systems used on tractors to prevent injuries resulting from roll-overs.

Industry safety experts will be at Friday's launch and farmers will have an opportunity to examine ROPS and other safety systems.