Farm Safety - Dangers of Pesticides

 The use of pesticides is a major issue in farm safety, for a number of different reasons. Pesticides are used widely in all types of agricultural settings, most mostly farms, orchards, forests, nurseries and greenhouses.

Farms use pesticides on a different number of crops, and are a necessary part of most types of modern-day farming. Orchards use pesticides as a way of preserving and treating fruit, an essential part of its long life.

Nurseries and greenhouses also use pesticides widely, many different plants need to be protected against different types of insects and bugs, and pesticides are often the only way to do it

The use of pesticides raises special concerns in terms of health and safety, both for the people who use pesticides, and anyone who may come into contact with any land plants or vegetable that has been sprayed with pesticides.

Pesticides vary in terms of their severity, but they should be thought of as potentially dangerous chemicals, and treated with the utmost caution. Depending upon where the farm or agricultural practice is located, there will be different statutes that regulate the use of pesticides,.

There are a number of common features that relate to how pesticides should be used, and what is considered best practice in terms of advice and guidance for people who are responsible for their usage.

The use of pesticides is not simply someone spraying them onto some plant or tree, the use of pesticides usually involves a number of different people who handle pesticide at different times.

Such handling can include transport pesticides, mixing of them, the loading onto a particular vehicle or sprayer and in the application of the test site to the relevant area.

Best practice indicates a number of minimum standards should apply. Any business using pesticides should have a clear policy concerning all the areas of their preparation and usage. Such a policy should be clearly written out and posted at all relevant points where pesticides are likely to be handled.

In addition, the pesticide policy should be already conveyed all people in the formal business who may either use pesticides, or come into contact with any type of produce that has had pesticide sprayed on them.

In addition to a written policy, all staff in the business should have some type of formal pesticide training. This should cover the different types of pesticides likely to be used in business, the correct way to handle and apply them and most importantly, what do in the event of an emergency either by ingestion or any other way someone has come into unsafe contact with them.

Aside from the training, which should be done as a formal process and on a regular basis, there should be pesticide safety posters put up throughout the physical location of the business reinforcing the most important point made during the pesticide training course.

Many businesses that use pesticides have some type of decontamination facilities, and any such site should be carefully thought through and workers in the business thoroughly appraised of how it works.

It is widely understood that many farms and agricultural businesses are located in rural settings, in places that would take emergency services a long time to get to.

With pesticides, it is important to have posters up giving detailed information of what do the event of an emergency. There are normally public health information sites which can give specialist advice on the ingestion or absorption of poisons, which may well, pesticides. If there is such a national or local phone number should be listed on the poster as well.

Best practice would also have small cards with this telephone number that could be displayed or kept in machinery such as tractors are in areas of land where no posters could be put up.

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Farm Safety and the Use of Vehicles on Public Roads

Most farms and agricultural businesses use a wide variety of different types of vehicles, ranging from tractors to combine harvesters to ATVs to different types of construction equipment.

In addition, many agricultural vehicles use different types of trailers to carry and transport loads both within the farm or agricultural business boundaries, which may well intersect with public highways as well.

It is also quite common for people on farms to use different types of normal motor vehicles and trailers to transport other pieces of agricultural machinery across that own land and public highways as well.

This area of the use of agricultural machinery on public highways is hugely important, because there are normally specific statutes and regulations relative to the use of agricultural machinery and their loads on public highways, as well as specific requirements regarding the age of who can drive what vehicles on such highways.

It is quite possible that the laws and regulations relating to public highways differ slightly from those relating to the use of these vehicles on a farm or agricultural business.

All regulations will differ slightly depending upon where the farm or agricultural businesses is based, but there are a number of important areas that can be highlighted, and where specific information needs be obtained.

It is important to understand how the local authority the following is what it means by a public highway. Whilst it might seem like the obvious to anyone who uses a normal motor vehicle, told highway can mean different things in terms of what types of vehicles allowed to use them.

Whilst most public roads will be open to any member of the public to use, there are likely to be restrictions on what types of vehicle can use them, and conditions as to the age of the person who may drive any vehicle on them.

One specific area that needs to be clarified is the age at which an operative may use any agricultural machinery on the public highway.

In order to use a motor vehicle on a public highway, a specific age will be delegated by the local authority. It is likely that someone of a lower age, quite often late teens will use agricultural machinery on farmland, and may wish to use such machinery on public highways as well.

A local authority is likely to recognise this as a potential issue, I have some type of statute that specifies what type of vehicle may be driven by people of specific ages. There is likely to be a distinction between a normal public highway, and a public highway that intersects farm or business land, which may simply involve a much smaller journey.

Tractors and agricultural machinery often carry large loads, which can present real hazards to other road users. These hazards can be because of the size of the load itself, or often because the size of the load and Vehicle must travel at a very slow speed, often causing congestion and frustration with other users of the road, which can generate potential hazards

Farm equipment may well have specific requirements by virtue of a statute concerning braking systems, bumpers, mirrors, horns and lights. A vehicle carrying any type of load needs to make sure that any trailer that has been used as fully functioning electrical and mechanical equipment as specified by local law.

The use of safety chains is not only good practice, but is likely to be a legal requirement as well. All loads are potentially a risk to other road users, either because they can list and either fall onto other users, or upset the power and driving capability of the vehicle that is pulling them. As such, loads should eat safely secured and checked, not only at the beginning of the journey, but at intermittent intervals throughout, when it is safe to do so.

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Farm Safety - Employing Young People

 Whilst strict regulations had been brought in to stop the exploitation of children and young people in the workplace, farming has a fairly unique environment that does allow for them to do a different number of jobs, both on the land itself, and in certain conditions using tractors and other farm machinery.

Many farmers do not like description of farming as a lifestyle, but in truth in many ways it is. A farm will normally be operated by family, and young family members will often be actively involved in the work itself.

In addition, young people may often be employed for seasonal work such as picking fruit or vegetables, in what would normally be thought of as a holiday job. This is absolutely fine, as long as certain conditions and legal obligations are followed.

Most countries were quite strict labour laws regarding children, and many of these laws will carry an exemption for workers in the agricultural and farming industries. It is important that any farm owner to know the legal position both for their own families, and any other young people that they may employ on the farm.

It should also be remembered that many young people in their mid teens, possibly around 14 or 15 are often used to drive tractors or other agricultural machinery, such as ATVs and other utility vehicles.

Certain laws make provision for this, as long as adequate training is provided and a certain level of supervision is enacted. It should also be remembered that local laws they will prohibit the driving of these vehicles on public highways by people under a certain age, which would almost certainly exclude anyone below the age of 17.

There are a wide variety of different jobs on a farm, depending on the nature of what is grown or produced, what types of machinery are used, and what the legal definition of agriculture or farming is in the state or country where the farm is situated.

It is likely that once a legal definition is understood and clarified, should make clear within that definition the sort of jobs that young people over a certain age should be permitted to do, and specifically which jobs which would not be allowed to do. The law should also specify by age what is considered a reasonable age for children to be doing any type of work on a farm, paid or unpaid.

The types of work that are normally considered suitable for most teenagers, fall into two main categories. One, already mentioned, would be areas such as picking fruit and vegetables. This could also include cleaning and grouping such fruit, stacking in boxes or crates and possibly loaded onto vans or trucks as well.

The other area of work would involve working with animals. This is a slightly more grey area, as someone with animals would be relatively safe, whilst other types of work would oversee the more dangerous.

Helping out with animals such as sheep and cows, what that would involve milking these animals is fairly commonplace on a lot of farms where teenagers work. Other work that might include larger and more volatile animals might be considered dangerous.

It should also be stated, although hopefully it is obvious, that teenagers and young children should never be involved in any type of work by hazardous or dangerous chemicals are involved.

These are commonplace on a lot of farms, and children should never be exposed to working anywhere near them, whether it is when they are actually being used, or in areas where they are then stored.

Whilst agriculture and farming does make provision for young people to be employed, there are also very strict penalties for any type of breaches of whatever laws may apply to them. These penalties normally include large fines, and can also include imprisonment in the more serious cases.

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6 Reasons To Start A Business During This Pandemic

You are not mistaken - I standby the title of my article. This is the best time to set up a business of your dreams or to expand your current business and yes, we are all still in Covid pandemic situation. So why all my positivity? Have I gone off-tangent with my thoughts?

I am an economist and business educator. For a long period of time, I have also been an active Singapore/Indonesia representative of the World Future Society. Thus scenario-planning is quite up my alley of expertise.

So here are my thoughts about why it is ripe to start a business now.

Reason 1: Globalisation

The spread of globalisation has not ceased. Rather, more people are jumping onto the bandwagon of seeking goods and services from different countries. There is an unquenchable desire to purchase the next "big thing" no matter the source of the new ideas

Reason 2: Rapid Spread of Information

As the world holds it breath for the technological march towards 5G, what has to be accepted is the speed of both information and misinformation. This means that with the right marketing strategy, you can propel corporate branding to a larger base of potential customers within a shorter time.

Reason 3: From social media to Mega Sticky Media (MSM)

I have created this acronym MSM because during the Covid period starting from 2020, there was the rise of Tiktok to become a free media platform to get business message across. It was like a combination of YouTube and Instagram but in hyper-speed of seconds. For the first time in history, marketing people are forced to distil the essence of a brand to suit a typical Tiktok attention-span. To many, this is impossible but to the youth-market this phenomenon is mere referred to as "Got to do it quickly!" GTDIQ -another one of my newly created acronyms.

Reason 4: Social Activism

For a business to embrace social change and be a good business citizen is not new. It also makes good business sense too. But the tsunami of social events that started from 2020 and how shareholders and customers will support a business that will take a stand - has officially taken root. Thus, if you start a new business, it is almost a truism that your brand has to encompass a certain level of being a change-agent for the betterment of society.

Reason 5: No Lack of Funding

Not only is there no lack of funding, but there is also now a new financial model Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) which allows start-ups to bypass the traditional Initial Public Offering (IPO) route. There is now a big demand for patents and new business models that help dig out a new niche.

Reason 6: Food Security and Sustainability Issues

With the acceptance that food security and environmental sustainability will constantly challenge the minds of many governmental decision-makers, there is opportunities galore for more research in this area. Thus, start-ups can develop their business plan and strategy along the lines of these issues.

With all these factors in mind, do consider starting a business today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10494900

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