Safety Program Critical Piece to Any Operation

Any ag operation regardless of commodity grown or number of employees needs a safety plan. Colorado Corn Safety Coordinator Debbie Barba urges producers without a safety plan to write one sooner rather than later.
Barba: “It is vital to your operation. It is such a huge investment. People often think of investments of just the asset portion of their operations. This is an investment in your people. And if you can invest strongly in your people and if you can invest strongly in your people it means a better operation. And a better operation means more money and more longevity for your farm.”
There are many resources available to producers interested in beginning to write a safety plan, Barba continues.
Barba: “The best place to go is online. If you google, ‘Agricultural Safety Plans’ you will have an abundance of resources that will come out. There are samples out there. There are templates. It is very easy to put one together. most importantly, go to your provider or broker or directly to your insurance company and they can help you put one together.”
She says that writing the plan is only the beginning of your operation’s safety program.
Baraba: “You don’t want to leave it on a shelf. This is a document should not get dusty. You need to always pull it out — be sure it is a living document. It should change as your operation changes. You need to have continual conversations with new workers, with workers that have been there 20 years you need to have those safety conversations to keep it in the forefront.”