Vol. 10, No. 2, March-April 2009

 Contents

 

 

 

THOUGHTS & QUOTES

…changing students' view of safety...

Many readers of this newsletter will be familiar with my college-level agricultural safety class. An important part of the class is a safety portfolio assignment (described in a previous issue of SN&N). For this assignment, students write about how the class has changed their view of safety. They often start the class with some similar ideas:

"At first I was under the impression that you needed an expert . . ."
"Before the class I was guilty of the “It can’t happen to me” mentality . . ."
"I thought safety was more of a tool or extension of your common sense rather than a culture or way of life."
"My attitude . . .didn’t place any value on safety. . ."
"I felt that safety was something that needed to be done if there was time. I felt that it was a waste of time because accidents can happen to other people but not me . . ."

If you work with this age group, then this sounds all too familiar: the invulnrerability, the devaluing of concepts outside the student's experience, and the outright ignorance of professional practice. Of course, these are the very things students come to us to outgrow, and the joy of teaching is watching as students learn, and not just take in facts, but really come to a deeper understanding of the world.

As part of the project, students are required to keep a journal. In it, they record what they see in their own behavior and in the world around them regarding both unsafe and safe practices. At the beginning, they are generally unaware of how much has already been done to make their world safer for them to work and play in, so as they learn about safety interventions, safety engineering, and safety practices, it opens their eyes to both the good and the bad.

In their journals, they tell how what they learned in safety class has helped them make different decisions than they would have made before the class, how they spoke about safety in other classes, how they talk to other students about safe practices, and how they bring information and report safety issues to employers, landlords, and property managers. I think that one thing that begins to excite them is that, in so many of their classes, they learn material they will only use years from now, if ever. But what they learn in safety class can often be applied to their lives that very day. Beyond that, they can take something they just learned and go out and make a difference in their world. (This safety journaling might be helpful and refreshing for a lot of us!)

By the end of the class, they have changed:

"I feel more aware, informed, and empowered to make the right decisions regarding safety for myself, fellow employees, and company in the future."
"Now I would not only feel comfortable reporting safety problems or improvements at work, but I would actually feel obligated. If someone were to get hurt doing something that I had seen a problem with, I would feel very responsible. I would also no longer be concerned with my company viewing me as a pain, but rather as an asset."
"The idea that I will hold onto most after completing the project is that an incident only needs to occur once to change your whole life."
"Now that I have . . . completed my safety portfolio, I have a new philosophy about safety. I feel that safety should be a part of your life twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week."
"My perspective on safety was that if you were not a risk taker and avoided danger, then you were considered practicing safety. This is entirely false, and now looking back, it was stupid thinking."

The teachers among you know that end-of-the-semester feeling -- after the planning, the grading, the excuses, the tardiness, the boundless creativity of students looking for an exception! And you ask yourself if anyone is "getting it" and if it is all "worth it." Statements like these tell me that these students will go on to make a difference in their workplaces and their homes -- that they do get it and that it is definitely all worth it. We're always being confronted with the "Next Big Thing", but this is how the world changes: one mind at a time.

[top]

Agricultural Equipment Sharing Public Roads: Extension Report Released

Once the province of agricultural equipment and farm transport, rural roads are being used more and more as conduits for non-rural traffic. The growth of cities of all sizes and the increasing use of rural lands for housing development is putting more non-farm traffic on rural roads. As a result, encounters between farm equipment and automobiles are becoming more frequent -- often with unhappy consequences. Collisions on rural roads represent a small fraction of all collisions, and so many governmental bodies might tend to give them a lower priority. Nevertheless, these incidents pose a serious threat to rural residents.

The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) responded to this growing problem by asking the North Central Regional Committee on Agricultural Safety and Health Research and Extension to convene a panel of health and safety practitioners. This committee has just released a report "identifying research, policy, extension, and outreach priorities related to operating agricultural equipment on public roads."

The committee found a wide range of opportunities for understanding the issues of agricultural equipment on public roads and sharing the roads with them. For example, the standards for reporting collisions vary a great deal among jurisdictions, so that it may not be possible to determine whether a rural collision has involved agricultural equipment or the nature or causes of the collision. The committee recommended standards for collision reporting that would begin to paint a more accurate picture of the problem and help in developing solutions.

The committee also found that driver education is incomplete or lacking when it comes to teaching drivers the basics of the lighting and marking of agricultural equipment or how best to handle an encounter.

The full text of the report is available on-line through the National Agricultural Safety Database and other sources.

[top]

"Teach Learn Care" Program Promotes Electrical Safety

In 2008, the Energy Education Council launched the "Teach Learn Care -- TLC" program as part of its ongoing public awareness program, Safe Electricity (R). The "Teach Learn Care" message is promoted through a variety of media, especially television and radio public service announcements. These materials feature the stories of real victims of electrical injuries.

An example is the story of sixth-grader Caitlyn Mackenzie. In June 2007, Caitlyn was spending a summer afternoon in a friend's pool. Toward evening, Caitlyn and friends decided to get out of the pool and play on the trampoline. They got out of the pool. Caitlyn grabbed her towel and tried to reposition a flood lamp to light the trampoline area. As soon as she touched the lamp, Caitlyn collapsed. Her friends tried CPR. Emergency services were called. But Caitlyn was could not be revived. The household current in the lamp had electrocuted her.

Caitlyn's story became the basis of the first series of materials in the TLC program. Caitlyn's mother and father and their families worked with Safe Electricity to produce video and audio, as well as print materials. These materials emphasize awareness of home electrical hazards and offer many valuable tips to prevent electrical injury.

A second installment of TLC materials have also been developed around the story of Shawn Miller. Shawn was hanging electrical lights in his mother's yard. He tossed a string of lights up over a tree and connected with a 7200-volt power line. When his mother found him, he was unconscious with smoke rising from his chest. Shawn was brought to a nearby hospital with 27 exit wounds where the high voltage had torn its way out of his body. Amazingly, Shawn Miller survived -- after three resuscitations, dozens of surgeries and skin grafts, and the loss of part of his left arm and a finger on his right hand.

[top]

Drive to Survive -- 10th Annual National Work Zone Awareness Week

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently celebrated the 10th Annual Work Zone Awareness Week (April 6-10, 2009). This year's theme was Drive to Survive -- Our Future is Riding On It! Your safety and the safety of roadway workers are at stake. In 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, over 800 people were killed in work zone crashes. That's about 2% of all the fatal collisions in 2007.

To bring this safety message to your audiences, the FHWA has prepared a number of materials, which are available on the Web site workzonesafety.org. Print materials, videos and links are provided to the kick-off media event, to informational resources from the FHWA clearinghouse, and to many state observances.

Materials from the Federal Highway Administration are primarily for driver awareness and information. For worker protection information, visit the Highway Work Zone Safety topic page produced by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. On that page, you will find publications such as the Work Zone Protection Toolbox and Building Safer Highway Work Zones: Measures to Prevent Worker Injuries from Vehicles and Equipment.

[top]


Anhydrous Ammonia Safety Video

The Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association and the Illinois Department of Agriculture have produced a video on Anhydrous Ammonia Safety. This video was produced with support from the Fertilizer Research and Education Council.

The video covers all areas of safe handling and transportation of anhydrous ammonia, as well as responsibility and maintenance of nurse tanks. This video was produced for Illinois farmers, but it is useful for anyone handling this substance. Illinois regulations regarding anhydrous ammonia are covered, but this video also covers federal requirements that apply in every state.

The video is only available electronically. It may be viewed on-line at either the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association or the Illinois Department of Agriculture Web sites.

[top]


June is National Safety Month

Each June, the National Safety Council sponsors National Safety Month. This year, each week in June will be devoted to a special safety topic:

   Week 1 -- Teen Driving (June 1-7)
    Week 2 -- Falls Prevention (June 8-14)
   Week 3 -- Overexertion (June 15-21)
   Week 4 -- Distracted Driving (June 22-28)

Safety Tips, Posters, and other materials to support these themes can be found at the NSC's National Safety Month Web site.

Distracted Driving is the subject of an ongoing campaign by NSC, the focus of which is use of cell phones while driving. NSC has a special page devoted to this subject. Relatively few states have banned either talking on cell phones or texting while driving, but the number of states considering and enacting such laws is growing.

[top]


SAFETY NEWS & NOTES is an e-mail newsletter prepared by Carol J. Lehtola, Extension Agricultural Safety Specialist and team leader for the Prevention and Preparedness: Agricultural Safety & Disaster Management program. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, UF/IFAS. If you have safety- or disaster-related questions or ideas that you would like to share with other agents, please contact Dr. Lehtola. If you know someone interested in receiving this newsletter, we will gladly add them to the e-mail list. Past issues of Safety News & Notes are archived on the Florida AgSafe Web site.