Canadian Agricultural Safety Week

Nova Scotia farmers will learn farm safety tips and the financial implications of farm accidents during Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, March 10-17.

"It is important to reduce the number and severity of injuries happening on farms," said Chris d'Entremont, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. "By promoting safety we are improving the health of the overall farm community."

The theme for this year's safety week is Farm Safety Makes $ense. During the week farmers across the country will be educated on farm safety and costs associated with agricultural injuries and fatalities. Such costs can be personal or business-related, and can include the less measurable costs of pain, suffering, coping with lifelong disabilities, and family grief.

"An important part of maximizing profits on farms is minimizing losses - and that includes losses due to injury, illness, or death of the farmer, farm family, or farm workers," said Don Cox, president of the Nova Scotia Federation Agriculture. "Minimizing losses can be accomplished by carrying out a safety checklist on your farm, keeping all machinery in good repair with guards in place and having adequate accident insurance coverage. It is also important to train workers in safety practices, lead by example, and make safety a priority on your farm."

Carl Palmer of the Canadian Farmers With Disabilities Registry, said attention needs to be given to how farms can be made into safer workplaces. "I encourage any farmer who has been involved in an accident to reach out to this organization as there are some very valuable services available to them."

Canadian Agricultural Safety Week is an annual awareness campaign to promote farm safety. Each year the provincial government, in partnership with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, develops educational promotional materials aimed to help Canadian farm families improve safety. For more information on farm safety visit the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and Fisheries' website at www.gov.ns.ca/nsaf/farmsafety ; contact the Nova Scotia Farm Health and Safety Committee at 902-893-6587; or the Canadian Farmers With Disability Registry at 902-893-2293.