Farmer Safety

Hazardous gases on farms can be found in many areas such as; silos, manure storage areas (even outdoor manure pits can be extremely dangerous), anaerobic digesters, grain bins and improperly ventilated barns – structures that provide a confined space in which gases can accumulate to dangerous levels or deprive the air of enough oxygen to sustain life. Plant material stored in silo’s ferments, allowing the crop to be stored for a long time. However, the fermentation process uses up oxygen, produces carbon dioxide and, under certain conditions, nitrogen dioxide, as by-products. The most common gases to carefully monitor are hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, nitrogen, phosphine and reduced levels of Oxygen.

PH3 or Phosphine is important to monitor in grain storage situations where pesticides or rodenticides have been used.

Lights

While it’s often overlooked, visual safety is a critical element in preventing accidents on the road or around the farm. While law requires that you have your Slow Moving Vehicle sign mounted, the red and orange triangular sign you are probably all aware of, that’s simply not enough! We recommend these small inexpensive, yet powerful flare’s that provide others a clear indication that you are there and to slow down! These have powerful magnets that allow you to move and mount it quickly from one piece of equipment to the other. So if you are going on the road, mount one or two of these on the back of your tractor/trailer/flatbed etc., and have peace of mind that someone will have the ability to see you in plenty of time to slow down or stop.

Signs

Visual safety is inexpensive yet a powerful and effective safety tool to increase your farm safety. Custom signs are surprisingly affordable, so call us to help you create signs marking specific hazards for you. Call Steve Lord at 216-262-6943.

Fall Protection

As a farmer you wear a million different hats, one of those responsibilities is the person repairing equipment as things break down or need modified. Often we may be working on a piece of equipment that’s several feet off the ground. It’s required that each employee on a walking/working surface (horizontal and vertical surface) with an unprotected side or edge which is 6 feet (1.8 m) or more above a lower level shall be protected from falling by the use of guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems.

The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a system in place. On this page we have highlighted a few of those items. 1^st, you will need a harness so that you can connect to a tie off point. 2^nd, you need to have a way to connect to your tie off point, in this case we highlighted the Tie Off Strap. These can be mounted on many different items like beams, framing, installed hooks etc., that can support 5000lb or more. 3^rd you need to connect from your harness to that connection point. We included a few different options, one is simply a strap or lanyard but with that option you have do some math to ensure you have enough clearance should a fall occur. The simpler option is to use a personal fall limiter/or SRL below. This will allow more strap out as you move away from your anchor point or retract the strap back in as you move closer to the anchor. If a fall occurs the device will detect that fall and lock up within just about 18 inches. These SRL’s start at around 6 feet, but if you need to tie off at further distance you can get them all the way up to 100’.

Hearing Protection

You work on and around some loud machinery, often for extended periods of time. The lowest cost option are some disposable earplugs that can be stored at several locations for quick and easy use. There are also earmuffs or headphones that cover the ear completely and can offer extremely high noise cancellation ratings if you prefer that style or don’t want to put anything in the ear. Here are a couple popular options, but of course we have several to choose from.

Hand Protection

While it’s common place to use leather gloves of one type or another around the farm, there is a second style of glove to consider, mechanical protection. If you are going to severely injure your hand it’s probably going to happen while working on equipment. These are some affordable mechanical gloves that will help protect against cuts, abrasions, increase your grip when working with oily or slippery parts, and help you avoid the infamous knuckle busting.

Respiratory Protection

It's recommended you work with an expert in respiratory protection specific to your environment and chemicals in use. We are happy to help you choose the proper level of protection by calling your contact Steve Lord at 216-262-6943. These are some commonly used respirators in the farming industry, but again, if not sure of your needs, please contact us.