National Farm Safety and Health Week runs this week—Sept. 21-27—and this year’s theme is encouraging those in the farm and ag industry to think: “Safety First: Avoid the Worst.”
“Keep safety a priority and keep safety in mind. There’s a job to do, but the most important thing is for everybody to be here and healthy when harvest is over,” says Ed Sheldon, Agricultural Safety Specialist with Purdue University and Purdue Extension.
On the latest episode of the “Your Farm” podcast, Sheldon tells Hoosier Ag Today that many farm injuries and fatalities happen during the busy season of harvest.
“Historically, we’re used to seeing a significant increase in that October-November time frame in fatalities and injuries on the farm just because it gets busy, it gets crazy, and everybody works as hard as they can to get the crop out of the field. Farmers are also working long hours and long days, and that, unfortunately, can lead to mistakes and injuries,” says Sheldon.
Many times, farmers may be racing to get a field harvested before it rains or before sunset—or even breaking for lunch or supper. That’s why suggest that farmers stop for a brief moment each time before putting that tractor, combine, or grain truck in gear to be completely aware of your surroundings at all times.
“Just take that extra minute and that extra second to think about what could happen and how do I prevent it from happening,” he says. “It’s a tough thing to do because we don’t want to think about the bad that can happen, but just take that extra moment to make safety a priority.”
For more information on National Farm Safety and Health Week, visit to necasag.org/NationalFarmSafetyandHealthWeek/.
CLICK BELOW to watch the latest episode of the “Your Farm” podcast featuring Ed Sheldon, as he discusses the importance of farm safety, as well as the findings of the 2024 Indiana Farm Fatality Summary report.
