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By TOMMY WILLIAMS
Extension Agent, Agriculture
Farmers should consider the financial and physical benefits of safety and health practices. Safety should be as important to their livelihoods as tractors and fertilizer.
In 1987, farm residents suffered 1,000 deaths and 100.000 disabling ' injuries due to work accidents, says the National Safety Council. The accidental death rate for agriculture was higher than for any other major industry group.
In addition to the human loss, these accidents cost farmers and their families billions of dollars in 'nodical expenses, property damiges and lost time. This money )therwise would have been used for lew farm equipment, building imirovements, new livestock and a .lost of other family and farm needs.
Why is there such a difference letween the accident severity in arming compared with other occulations? One reason is its depenlence on nature’s rhythms, not iuman designs.
Nature accepts no excuses for ardiness, ill-preparedness, or failre to accomplish a task. On a farm, ;ork simply must get done, regard's of whether the workers want to o it. As a result, many farmers tend ) suffer more accidents than any - ther group.
Another factor affecting safety is le long hours many farmers must ut into their work. The result is fague, a known enemy of safety and, v-entuallv, of health.
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