Released on March 10, 2014
Today, Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart and Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan proclaimed Agricultural Safety Week in Saskatchewan, March 9-15.
“I encourage all farm owners and managers to discuss safety with anyone who works on or visits the farm,” Stewart said. “Farming has the potential to be dangerous for farmers, workers and their families. By having safety discussions regularly, you can identify safety issues and reduce risk on your farm.”
Agricultural Safety Week in Saskatchewan coincides with Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, a partnership between the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. This year’s theme “Let’s talk about it!” encourages farmers and communities to talk about farm safety.
The Ministry of Agriculture provides funding to the Agricultural Health and Safety Network, an affiliation of the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture, to offer agricultural health and safety programming to over half of the farm families in Saskatchewan. In addition, funding is provided to the Saskatchewan Association of Agricultural Societies and Exhibitions for farm safety day camps for youth.
“Planning safety can be difficult to do when there is equipment to fix, chores to do and fields to be seeded,” Morgan said. “It’s important that farmers and workers remember that they are exposed to risks on a daily basis, so they must make safety a priority and safe work practices a habit in their daily activities.”
Please visit www.saskatchewan.ca/farmsafety to read more about farm safety and to access the Farm Safety Guide.
Agricultural Safety Week is supported by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture, the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Abilities Council.
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For more information, contact:
Angela Hall
Agriculture
Regina
Phone: 306-787-2359
Email: angela.hall@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-527-0521