For more than 40 years, Martin has been involved with the Waterloo Home and Farm Safety Association and he currently serves as the association’s current President. For many years, together with his wife Ruby, Martin managed an apple orchard and store, so he remembers how challenging it could be sometimes be to stay focused on farm safety.

“We used to have our annual meetings in the spring and, in the fall, we had safety meetings in different areas,” he recalls. “I always tried to go if I could but I was still farming at that time, so my wife would have to look after the apple sales at home.”

Martin says it had always helped that there was so much to learn during the farm safety conferences and rallies he attended. But, even more than that, he says that he really enjoyed socializing with other farmers during these events. He admits that it concerns him to see fewer and fewer young farmers joining the safety association today and taking that same time to educate themselves and socialize the way he did early in his career.

“I know you want to get the harvest done in a hurry, but sometimes you have to learn to be a little bit careful,” he advises. “I think everything is go-go, and the bigger you get, the more ‘hurry’ you have. And, if a person is always in a hurry, well, that will likely stay that way.”

Still, Martin is reminded of an old saying; “Hurry, kills.” Now that everything is bigger, and automatic, farmers have to be more conscious of safety. Or, at least that’s how it seems to Martin. It isn’t as much of a worry to him if farmers are in the field but, he is alarmed by farmers who take all that big equipment on the road. Particularly, when proper safety precautions aren’t put in place.

“Sometimes farmers take chances,” he quips. “When an implement dealer takes a piece of equipment out to the farm, boy, they’ve got strict rules! But, all we can do is tell the farmer what to do and then it’s up to them.”

Martin says he’s been around long enough to know you can’t teach someone to change if they’re not willing to listen, and he insists he was never perfect himself. But equipment has changed a great deal since he was just getting started he says. Heidi Wagner, a farm safety partner with the Woolwich Community Health Centre, tells me that Martin isn’t the only senior member of their local farm safety association to express concern over changes in equipment and the practices of young farmers who are working larger acreages with bigger machinery.

“In the course of their lifetime, they’ve seen and heard of enough incidents, that they still feel farm safety’s an important topic for them to stay involved in, even as they get older and move off the farm,” she explains. “Their involvement becomes less hands on, but they’re still passionate about it for sure.”

Sure, she says, some of the retirees may not be as tech savvy as the younger farmers involved. Or as familiar with the ever-changing rules and regulations which farmers are increasingly required to adhere to. But, the anecdotes and life experience they can draw from or recount for newer farmers serve a valuable purpose as far as Wagner is concerned.

“You know, it’s those coffee shop meetings, the ‘remember when’ and the ‘did you hear’ conversations, that are often just as important as the full-fledged safety rallies,” she says. “The real story often comes out on the street and in the barn yard, as opposed to what you hear in the press because they’re only privy to certain information.”

On the other hand, Martin insists that the younger members of the association, and Wagner in particular, do excellent work when it comes to engaging with children and teaching them to be safer around the farm. In his experience, he says it can be easy to become too technical with children so “keep it simple!” Of all the safety efforts he’s been involved in with the association, he says he is certainly the most proud of all the annual safety rallies they hosted for local children.

Each year the Waterloo Home and Farm Safety Association hosts a rally for local families during Canadian Agricultural Safety Week. The Canadian Agricultural Safety Association thanks them for their commitment to farm safety and for being a part of the AgSafe Family.

– Amy Petherick for the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association.

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Of the farmers who gathered at an Ontario Federation of Agriculture workshop on mental health stigma that was offered last November, many in the standing-room-only crowd were over the age of 65. Danielle Stewart, a consultant for Workplace Safety and Protection Services and the featured speaker of the day, says mental health issues impact farmers of all ages. She encourages senior members of the farm to take a lead in promoting mental health and wellness.

“Farmers of all ages, especially seniors, have a wealth of knowledge,” she shares. “If older, more experienced farmers prioritize mental health and wellness, younger workers are more likely to follow suit.”

Stewart explains that work by Andria Jones-Bitton of the University of Guelph, as well as advocacy being done in the Prairies, has raised a lot of awareness around mental health on the farm. Mental health advocacy is not unique to agriculture Stewart explains, rather there are many industries looking to improve the mental health of their employees. Stewart says agriculture has an advantage in many ways. She explains: “Farmers and producers inherently know their workers, because the farms people work on are both family homes and a workplace; they’re one step ahead of the corporate world in that respect,” she says. “A lot of the work we’re trying to do with organizations really surrounds getting to know your people and humanizing the workplace.”

Stewart says everyone has a personal story about mental health. Mental illness touched her family when she was in high school, which is when she became very passionate about the topic. Not long after, she created a university campaign to get the message out that mental illness doesn’t discriminate based on race, gender or background. Stigma prevents so many people from discussing mental health, both personally and professionally. It’s critical to promote open communication if you want to start improving mental health in the workplace.

“People are just starting to talk about mental health in the workplace, so they’re still very curious about it and asking where to get started,” she explains. “We need to put a lot of effort and time into anti-stigma education and awareness; regardless of industry or sector. That’s where a lot of workplaces are starting.”

A big piece of being mentally well must include a willingness to be open, honest, and aware about our own health. This is true for young, middle-aged and senior farmers. Stewart says this includes being cognizant of new and changing abilities, the impacts of medication, and other various stressors. She says the questions to ask yourself could include:

“Is my head in the game?”

“Am I distracted by other things, like maybe a doctor’s appointment?”

“Am I really focused on the task at hand?”

Janet Smith, program manager for the Manitoba Farm and Rural Stress Line, agrees with Stewart and says people who have suffered an injury while working on the farm will often describe being mentally distracted at the time of their incident. “We know that when farmers are stressed, it impacts all parts of their lives and that puts them more at risk of injury.” She says farmers who take good care of their physical and mental health will benefit. They are safer, and more productive. When farmers call the Manitoba Farm and Rural Stress Line to ask for help, she says her organization’s objective is to empower farmers to keep working through whatever they’re experiencing, no matter what their age is.

Stewart reminds senior farmers that acknowledging changes in one’s abilities doesn’t need to be seen as negative. “The aging process is an important and fantastic part of life,” she says. “It’s something to be proud of!”

Stewart hopes that senior workers and young workers alike, will look after both their physical and mental health, if not for themselves, for their families and the farm. After all, the most important asset of any farm, is the farmer.

For more information about Canadian Agricultural Safety Week, visit agsafetyweek.ca.

Amy Petherick for the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association.

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On April 20, 1994, she and her brother were playing on a tractor-driven rotary tiller that was parked, but running, not far from where her parents were standing in the yard. “The rototiller shook itself into gear, my brother fell forward, and I fell back.” Bailey says that as dangerous as high-speed power takeoffs are, it was the rotors on the tiller that did the most permanent damage. It only took a split second for Bailey to suffer serious injuries. “The rotor blade stripped the muscle on my left leg from the calf down. A blade went into my stomach and cut some of my intestines, then went all the way up into my liver. And I have a scar where it tore my face right down my laugh line.”

Twenty years later, she still remembers having trouble breathing, but remaining calm as her mother scooped her up. Bailey’s mother had taken a first aid course not even three weeks before and never panicked. She took charge of the scene immediately and worked to stop Bailey’s bleeding with sanitary napkins she had on hand. “Driving to the nearest hospital, about 30 kilometres away in Kerrobert, I remember looking for birds. That was a game we would play when we were driving. My Mom told me that was because she wanted to keep me awake.”

Although Bailey’s mother was confident in her actions, local doctors and nurses were unsure how to treat Bailey’s injuries. Bailey went into shock before the decision was made to transfer her by ambulance to Royal University Hospital — two hours away in Saskatoon. Her mother followed the ambulance the entire way. “Mom remembers stopping twice on the highway ((behind the ambulance), and she knew something was wrong,” Bailey says. “My heart stopped, twice, and it can’t fibrillate in a moving ambulance.”

Seven surgeons met the ambulance upon its arrival in Saskatoon. All of Bailey’s veins had collapsed, and doctors couldn’t get an IV started which delayed surgery. The situation was bad; five surgeons quit during surgery thinking Bailey was a lost cause Miraculously, she survived and after a couple of weeks in the intensive care unit, followed by another three or four months of rehabilitation, she was finally discharged.

Bailey traveled to rehab for nearly 10 years after that. Even with intensive rehab, Bailey’s Achilles’ tendon shrunk to the point that she always walked on tiptoe. After years of limping her spine was thrown out of alignment. Bailey opted for a second major surgery in November 2005, which doctors explained could result in an amputated leg. She says that was a hard decision to make as a body- conscious 15-year-old, but fortunately, the surgery was a success.

“As a child growing up, it was tough having the massive amount of scars that I do and an obvious limp. Legally, I was disabled. Life was extremely hard, but I just made a choice at a young age, that I was only as disabled as I wanted to be.”

Bailey played almost every sport she could in school, struggling with only skating and snowboarding. She also traveled around on a school speaking circuit, talking to nearly 1000 kids about the importance of farm safety. After graduating from high school, she moved to Calgary to become a primary care paramedic. Just last fall, she transferred to Kerrobert so she and her husband could move three miles away from the family farm.

“It happened so fast, and it changed my life,” she says. “I’m so much more than the scars on my body, and I’m so much more than ‘that girl who was run over by a rototiller’… but, what parents and kids don’t realize is, it’s not just a farm accident, it’s a life sentence.”

Bailey believes life has only given her what she can handle but, at the same time, she sincerely hopes sharing her story saves another child from suffering an equally difficult experience.

By Amy Petherick, freelancer for Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, casa-acsa.ca.

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Growing up on the family farm near St. Malo, Man., the Racine children experienced their own close call while playing in a large truck. All five kids had free range of the family’s grain farm and made toys of anything they could find. Monique Racine remembers how their imagination knew no bounds and how fearless they were.

“When I was a kid, we weren’t afraid to take a hammer, and nails, and just put them into a piece of wood,” Monique recalls. “I remember taking a drill and drilling holes in aluminum bowls!”

During the harvest season of 1986, everything changed. Monique and her younger brother, Patrick, took lunch to her father and older brother in the field. As they had done before, she and Patrick were playing in the truck box where the wheat was being unloaded. Patrick remembers waving hello to his brother in the combine as it unloaded into the truck box around him. He hadn’t yet realized his body was already stuck in the grain. He vividly recalls suddenly struggling to pull his arms out of chest-high wheat and looking over to see Monique was worse off.

“The wheat was above Monique’s nose and eyes already, so I got my left arm out to scoop enough wheat away from her mouth and nose constantly,” he says. “The pressure of the wheat on my chest was so heavy, I was trying to breathe so hard but I couldn’t, so I panicked… it was a nightmare.”

Outside of the grain box, his father, Emile, had returned in another truck to take the next load of wheat from the field and had expected to see the two younger kids around. Emile is not sure what it was that made him think they might be in the back of the truck.

“I came to the field to see no kids in the truck, and I just panicked,” he explains. “I automatically went to the back of the truck, opened the gate, and they both came out.”

Patrick says he can clearly remember Emile was “as pale as a white wall” as he knelt down to check them both over. “They were both OK but that was a very close call,” Emile says. “After that, I told them that they had to stay home.”

No one was allowed to play on equipment anymore and Monique says none of the kids could see the fun in it after that anyway. The new farm policy became “if you can’t count five heads in the yard, you can’t start up or move equipment.” Emile bought two-way radios shortly after that so there could be more communication about where the kids were supposed to be and fortunately, they never had another close call after that. Now that the kids are grown and bring the grandchildren to the farm, those safety policies are as important as ever.

Patrick says maintaining eye contact is a good policy but he’s learned the value of conducting walkarounds too. He’s moved away from the farm and says it’s a mandatory practice on his construction worksite. Fatal accidents in the past have proven the equipment is simply too big to see everyone from the cab. In his opinion, walkarounds ensure you really know your surroundings as an operator.

“Where I work, you walk around, make sure there’s no one behind you, and no one near the equipment,” he says, “no matter what.”

Monique says their family had to learn their commitment to safety the hard way and she’s determined to teach her four-year old daughter without another close call. If constant supervision isn’t a guarantee, Monique says she won’t let her daughter be in a position where there’s a potential safety risk. “If she’s going to go in the shop where there are chemicals, I know her, and curiosity’s gonna take over.” That’s why Monique strongly believes it’s ultimately up to parents to ensure the safety of their children. If that means insisting on hazards being put under lock and key, dedicating a babysitter to constant supervision, or simply declaring “no-go”zones, than that’s what she believes parents should do.

By Amy Petherick, freelancer for the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association.

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