Melanie Mesaros/Oregon OSHA
Kirk Lloyd, left, works with farm supervisor Bacillio Rodriguez to oversee pickers at the Cooper Family Orchards in The Dalles, Ore.
Working as an independent safety consultant was not where Kirk Lloyd saw himself when he graduated with an agricultural economics degree from the University of Idaho.
But after working for Farm Credit Services in Klamath Falls, Ore., for five years, Lloyd became friends with the owner of a wo ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:16 AM
A legislative mandate will require farmers and ranchers who employ non-family members either to hold safety meetings or have a safety committee effective Jan. 1, 2011.
"We want to make sure they're thinking about getting this in place before Jan. 1," said Melanie Mesaros, Oregon Occupational ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:17 AM
When California's workplace-safety board approved amendments to the state's heat-illness rules on Aug. 19, it didn't change much on paper.
But it did give farm employers a stronger legal footing on the rules. The state's heat-safety regulation provides for criminal liability, and farm employe ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:17 AM
CLAQUATO, Wash. -- For all the years Bryon Loucks has been cutting timber, he credits common sense as the best guide for staying safe: "Watch what you're doing. Watch where you step."
He and his wife, Donna, have all the right tools and safety equipment at their B&D Tree Farm west of Cheh ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:20 AM
Jeff Fowle knows what it takes to keep fatigue from getting the best of him.
The fourth-generation rancher from Etna, Calif., certainly has a busy schedule. In addition to his cattle, horse and hay operation, he's active in his local Farm Bureau and in a national social media campaign called ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:21 AM
Every farmer has probably heard of at least one tragic accident involving a grain bin.
One such accident occurred several years ago near Soda Springs, Idaho.
A worker emptying a commercial grain bin had tied his safety rope to a sweep auger. He became entangled in the rope and was pulled i ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:22 AM
One of Dick Coon's cows recently got some fence wire wrapped around her leg.
Coon, of Benge, Wash., ushered the cow through a series of fences to a confining chute and lowered the sides so he could get a better look at the leg.
The injury appeared to be relatively minor. Carefully, Coon we ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:24 AM
It may say something about the importance of farm safety that the nation's first official observance occurred during World War II.
Ever since President Franklin Roosevelt declared the first National Farm Safety and Health Week in 1942, the third complete week in September has been set asi ...
Thursday, September 10, 2009 5:47 PM
HOOD RIVER, Ore. -- One of the first things pear packer Duckwall-Pooley Fruit Co. does after remodeling a packing line is call the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division for a consultation.
"We make it a goal to have them come in when we do a remodel," said Fred Duckwall, presiden ...
Thursday, September 10, 2009 5:44 PM
A logger in Northern California is injured when a cable hits him in the back and knocks him to the ground.
A truck driver in Jackson, Miss., burns his logging truck to a crisp after he tries to toss a cable over his logs to secure them, but instead hooks a 7,200-volt power line above the ...
Thursday, September 10, 2009 5:45 PM
John Shutske doesn't call incidents on farmland "accidents."
They're injuries, said the longtime agricultural safety expert, now an associate dean for extension and outreach at the University of Wisconsin. He was an extension agricultural safety and health specialist in Minnesota for 17 y ...
Thursday, September 10, 2009 5:46 PM
It was a typical Thursday in March. Steve Keudell was taking down a maple tree with his brother Alan at a house they own.
He had a lot on his mind, including his son Daniel's wedding, which was planned for the following Saturday.
Beyond that, the Aumsville, Ore., farmer doesn't remem ...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:21 PM
"Ponder before you pass" -- That is the traffic safety message crafted by Scio High School students for a video they made in May remembering their classmate, Nathan Gourley. Nathan, 16, died on July 28, 2008, when the hay stacker he was driving was hit by a log truck.
That is not the only ...
Saturday, September 05, 2009 3:03 PM
Increase noted after several years of decline in deaths
Fatal accidents among farmers and ranchers shot up about 8 percent last year.
At 317 deaths, the number of occupational fatalities in 2008 was up from the prior year's level of 293 fatalities, according to recently released preliminar ...
Saturday, September 05, 2009 3:03 PM
"Work safe. Home safe," is the motto of the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries' voluntary work-safety program.
The program is built on cooperative partnerships between employers and the agency to keep workers safe and lower the costs caused by workplace injuries.
"Th ...
Saturday, September 05, 2009 3:03 PM
