SEPTEMBER 2020

Warm weather means hay and silage season for many farms. Moving parts, dusts, long days, and roadway hazards are a few of the ways haying and silage harvest can become dangerous.

Prevent a serious illness, injury, or delay that could result from skipping on safety by checking in with the harvest team this month.

SAFETY CHECKLIST

• Are equipment and machinery maintained and functioning properly? For example: tractor, baler, chopper, haybine, hay rake, semi or chopper box, unloaders.
• Are guards, shields, and safety stickers in place and in good condition?
• Is maintenance done only when equipment is powered down? Consider a lock-out-tag-out system.
• Are equipment operators aware of any steep inclines, ravines, or obstacles in the field that are hazardous?
• Are children kept away from this work site and off equipment?
• Are workers wearing slim-fit clothes, no-slip work shoes, a safety vest, and cloth face masks? Even if a worker is alone when operating machinery, COVID-19 particles can linger in the cab.
• Does roadway equipment have proper lighting and slow-moving signage?
• Are you keeping three points of contact when climbing structures like silos?
• Are workers using established hand signals?
• Are you minimizing cross-team exposure by coordinating work schedules for individuals residing together?
• Are high touch surfaces (vehicles, offices, break spaces, etc.) disinfected or sanitized with a focus on the vehicle?
• Are harvest team members trained with safety instructions and emergency procedures? Are these procedures updated with COVID-19 in mind?
• Is there an ABC Fire Extinguisher in all equipment?

You and/or your employee(s) can download and print a pdf checklist to complete safety checks on your farm.  Keep the completed forms for follow-up, future reference and inspections.

Disclaimer: The facts and information listed above are suggestions for your safety, but are in no way a comprehensive and exhaustive list of all actions needed to ensure your safety.