Ag Safety STAT: Safety Through the Seasons 2021

Ag Safety S.T.A.T. – Safe Tactics for Ag Today is prepared by the OSU Extension Agricultural Safety & Health Team. The goal is to provide seasonal safety news and activities that may be re-published in your own newsletters or programs. If you have safety-related questions or program ideas that you would like to share, please contact Dee Jepsen at jepsen.4@osu.edu.

Fall Season

  1. Joseph Maiorano, PhD, Family and Consumer Sciences, OSU Extension, Harrison County 

    Farming, as life, is neither easy nor predictable, and it does not ask our permission. We make mistakes, others treat us unfairly, and conditions don’t cooperate.

  2. Bridget Britton, Behavioral Health Field Specialist ANR

    Those that work in the agriculture industry know that it doesn’t matter the time of year, it is always busy. The Winter season is no different it just has its own unique demands. However, there may be other things

  3. Joseph Maiorano, OSU Extension, FCS Educator Harrison County

    Lunch: The Fuel You’ll Need

    Farmer, you work hard. During a 10-15-hour workday, you will burn between 2,500 and 6,750 calories (captaincalclulator.com, nd)! Before leaving for work, you

  4. Wayne Dellinger, ANR Educator Union County

    Harvest season started several weeks ago and in many areas is well over halfway complete.  With the changing of the seasons, we also see changes that need to be considered when it comes to roadway safety in agricultural

  5. Dee Jepsen, Extension State Safety Leader and Wayne Dellinger, ANR Educator Union County

    Autumn weather conditions have led to an increase in combine fires. Two recommendations to prevent injuries and property damage include: preventative maintenance and pre-planning for

  6. Laura Akgerman, Disability Services Coordinator, Ohio AgrAbility Program and OSU Extension

    Ohio AgrAbility invites you to join us in celebrating 30 years of AgrAbility! In October AgrAbility projects will be on Facebook and Twitter posting stories,

  7. Mary Ann Rose, Ohio State University Extension Pesticide Safety Education Program

    The beginning and end of the growing season are good times to assess your pesticide storage. It’s wise to view your pesticide storage from a risk perspective – risks to workers and

  8. J.T. Benitez, OSU Extension, ANR Educator Butler County

    Late summer into autumn means it is u-pick season on many agritourism farms across Ohio.  It is a time for visitors to make a trip out to the farm to pick their favorite fruit or vegetable and spend quality family

Summer Season

  1. Farm Safety Yields Real Results
    September 19-25, 2021

    National Farm Safety and Health Week is a time to turn the spotlight on far too overlooked practices in agriculture. Safety and health always seem to ride under the radar. This week provides a space and platform

  2. Bridget Britton, Behavioral Health Field Specialist ANR

    September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and with that comes the opportunity to raise awareness to help prevent even one more suicide from happening. When you live where you work the stress often never leaves

  3. Richard Purdin, OSU Extension, Adams County ANR/CD Educator

    As fair season rolls along many 4-H and FFA members are still proudly exhibiting their livestock projects they have worked hard all year to raise. Tending to livestock can be a lot of hard work and long hours

  4. Gigi Neal, ANR Educator Clermont County and Dee Jepsen, Professor and State Agricultural Safety Leader

    Many times, we see an airplane or helicopter going over head and it catches our attention to look up and see what kind of plane it is, or what they are doing. Some

  5. Mark Badertscher, OSU Extension, Hardin County ANR Educator

  6. Tractor and rotary brush mower.

    Richard Purdin, OSU Extension, Adams County ANR/CD Educator

    Summer is here and many of the spring farm chores are complete, for many farmers this means cleaning up overgrown pastures, buffer strips, grassy waterways, and roadside ditches. Mowing road banks or field edges

  7. Water bottle

    Kate Homonai, OSU Extension Educator, Family & Consumer Sciences, Vinton County 

    My dad tells a story about the summers he spent helping bale hay at his uncle’s farm. He and his cousins would spend hours outside each day, working beneath the hot sun and becoming

  8. Kids on top fo round bales, jumping into the air.

    Lydia Flores, OSU Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Morgan County

    Imagine a calm humid morning walking the fields with dad and the dog. The sun is just coming up over the trees as you check the moisture of the hay. Growing up on a farm is not always easy, but it

  9. Wayne Dellinger, ANR Educator Union County and Dee Jepsen, Professor and State Agricultural Safety Leader

    Weather conditions have helped Ohio wheat fields mature – but these same conditions can lead to an increase in fires to combine harvesters and crop fields.

  10. Manure Pit

    Denny Riethman, ANR Educator Mercer County

    Wheat harvest will happen soon.  A common practice with livestock farmers is to apply manure nutrients following harvest of the wheat.  This increases the importance of reminding operators and applicators of following safety

  11. Lydia Flores, OSU Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Morgan County

    What is Zoonosis?

    While traveling or enjoying some outdoor activities, many people might encounter animals in either an urban or rural setting. Animals provide many

  12. Sunrise over a farm field

    Kate Homonai, OSU Extension Educator, Family & Consumer Sciences, Vinton County

    Do you ever stop to think about how amazing the sun is? It is a star that is tens of millions of miles away from earth, yet provides just the right amount of heat and light to support

  13. Tractor and Baler

    Richard Purdin, OSU Extension, Adams County ANR/CD Educator

    For many livestock producers June is a busy month, finishing the crop planting, caring for livestock, and harvesting first cutting of hay. Hay harvest can be a very labor intensive and time-consuming job.

Spring Season

  1. Mary Ann Rose, Pesticide Safety Education

    With the arrival of summer, the risk of heat stress increases.  Farmers have an elevated risk of heat stress for obvious reasons – working outdoors.  Activities that require protective clothing, such as pesticide application,

  2. Bridget Britton, Extension Field Specialist, Behavioral Health

    The month of May helps us to be aware that warm weather is inching toward Ohio, it is also Mental

  3. A child feeding livestock with proper footwear.

    Sabrina Schirtzinger, ANR Educator Knox County

    Owning and working livestock is the first step to teaching youth responsibilities on the farm. Younger children may not be aware of the dangers that come with this responsibility.

  4. Stressed farmer in the field.

    Richard Purdin, OSU Extension, Adams County ANR/CD Educator

    The month of May is a busy time on the farm, from making hay to building fence, planting crops, and tending to livestock. For many small and medium sized farms these tasks are commonly placed on the shoulders of

  5. Mary Ann Rose, Director, Pesticide Safety Education Program

    You probably worked on your sprayer and other major equipment over the winter to gear up for pesticide applications.  Have you put any effort into preparing for applicator safety?

  6. Sarah Noggle, OSU Extension Educator, Agriculture, and Natural Resources, Paulding County

    What to do with your leftover medication?

    Many Ohio residents have expired or unused pharmaceutical products in their medicine cabinets and don’t know what to do with them

  7. Richard Purdin, ANR/CD Educator Adams County

    A common tool used on the farm is a tractor mounted post-hole auger/digger. A tractor mounted post-hole digger can reduce time and labor when building large stretches of fence.

  8. Picture of a combine on fire in a field.

    Dee Jepsen, Associate Professor, Agricultural Safety and Health

    While many combines are parked and inactive over the spring months, a team of Ohio State University students are thinking about fire hazards that occur to these machines while they are harvesting summer and

  9. Anhydrous Ammonia Tanks

    Dee Jepsen, Associate Professor, Agricultural Safety and Health

    As Anhydrous nurse tanks start rolling to the fields, roadway safety becomes a priority. This is a review of Ohio’s regulations to protect the transporter and the public.

  10. Tornado damage to farm in Mercer County, Ohio

    Wayne Dellinger, ANR Educator Union County

    Being aware of weather conditions is nothing new to farmers. Weather is what dictates everything from when fieldwork can be done to how well crops yield. Severe weather awareness is an old topic that sometimes needs a reminder. 

  11. Wayne Dellinger, ANR Educator Union County

    Spring planting season will soon be under way across the State of Ohio.  After challenging planting seasons in recent years, farmers will be taking advantage of every window of opportunity to get seeds in the ground.

  12. Kent McGuire – OSU CFAES Safety and Health Coordinator

    Many farmers are applying anhydrous ammonia as a part of their spring planting season. Anyone working with anhydrous ammonia should be familiar with the safe use of the product, understand the potential for injury

Winter Season

  1. N95 respirator

    Mark Badertscher, OSU Extension, Hardin County ANR Educator; with information from Pierce Paul, OSU Extension, Corn & Wheat Disease Specialist and Dee Jepsen, OSU Extension, Associate Professor and State Agricultural Safety Leader.

    Currently there is a lot of

  2. Image of drawstrings that can easily become entangled in augers, PTO shafts, and other rotating equipment.

    Richard Purdin, OSU Extension, Adams County ANR/CD Educator

    The Week of February 21st is recognized as grain bin safety week. Many producers will be working in or around grain storage structures to fulfill marketing contracts or sell their 2020 crop to purchase crop

  3. Laura Akgerman, Disability Services Coordinator / Ohio AgrAbility Coordinator

    It’s wintertime. The temperatures are cold, the days are short, and the nights are long. You have work to do, but you just don’t feel like doing it. The good news is that the shortest day of

  4. Sabrina Schirtzinger, ANR Educator Knox County

    As temperatures get cold livestock owners search for ways to keep their livestock warm. Often livestock owners are in a hurry and think hanging a heat lamp will be temporary. In a hurry they quickly hang the heat lamp up in

  5. Richard Purdin ANR/CD Educator Adams County

    Winter is here and with winter comes inclement weather, unfortunately farmers and ranchers must tend to their chores no matter what mother nature may throw at them. The farm is filled with hazards and risk for slipping and

  6. Wayne Dellinger, ANR Educator Union County