1. Machine Safety Basics (January 14)

Our first session will focus on the basics of machine hazards.  We will start with safety basics, including data on how farmers are getting hurt in general, building the case for why we are focusing on Machine Safety.  Next, we will review hazardous motions and actions of machinery and then relate these to specific farm equipment to improve attendee’s skills in hazard recognition.  Our hands-on activity will walk us through a video at a grain bin to discuss machine hazards that you see.  You will be asked to identify and discuss:

• What machine hazard(s) did you see?
• What are possible injuries that could occur? Can you find any evidence of these injuries, for example news stories / Google?
• What ideas do you have to reduce the risk for workers? Family members?
• How likely do you think it would be for your solution to be adopted?
• Discuss effectiveness: would your solution reduce probability of occurrence or severity of outcome?

2. Machine Safeguarding (February 11)

The second session will build on what we learned about hazards and discuss four categories of machine safeguards and talk about tools available to assess optimal (required) design.  We will review machine guarding checklists (and have you grab a screen shot) and then evaluate some guards using the checklist.  When we return, we will walk through additional on-farm equipment and perform “virtual inspections” of guards.  We will also send folks on a hunt for a machine safeguarding checklist to build your references on this topic.

3. Lockout – Tagout (LOTO) for Machine Safety (March 11)

Our third conversation on machine safety focuses on making sure we have put equipment into a zero-energy state before we enter into a confined space or perform work on equipment without guards.  We will focus on the components of a LOTO program, to help attendees understand (1) why we need to consider all forms of hazardous energy and not just electricity and moving machines, (2) the steps to take in any LOTO process (and why), (3) simple tools that are available to lock out hazardous energy sources.  Before we walk through our case study, we will illustrate several operations that involve grain transfer, and have you consider machine hazards (part 1), understand guards that are/should be in place (part 2), and other energies to consider for LOTO in these operations (part 3).  Then, we will gather together to walk through a real case (see here) involving some of this equipment so we can use what we learned to discuss critical components of a LOTO system that could have prevented this fatal injury.

Respirator Selection:  2 Part Series (June – July)

We have developed another two-part training session on respiratory protection selection for ag operations.  We have learned that even those that can do a great job fit testing respirators for farmers (and others), they still have questions about what kind of respirator they should recommend to farmers and farm workers.  This session walks through the information needed to select a respirator, then walks Academy Members through a variety of tasks to see what is going on and then what to select for a respirator.  Then, we will show practical tips on purchasing respirators, including matching the respirator cartridge to the respirator facepiece, some tips for selecting the right “size” respirator to start assessing fit, and then guidance to show respirator users how to conduct a fit check every time they put a respirator on.  The objective of these two sessions is for Academy Members to understand:  how to select the right respirator for farm work, purchasing considerations, and fit testing processes and resources for farmers.

RP Definitions, Selection and Practice with Grain Handling:  Part 1 (June 10)

In this first meeting, we are going to review respirator basics (categories, styles, components) and Assigned Protection Factors and how to use them.  The respirator selection process will be outlined, then examples relevant to farm tasks will be used to apply the steps in this selection process.  We will review some grain handling operations and develop your skills to understand where and what respiratory hazards are with grains (and what may be on them), and we will have everyone summarize what you see in the videos and what respiratory protection you recommend be selected. You will be asked need to grab (and temporarily save) screen shots during this presentation to work through some of the exercises we will present.

Respirator Selection Practice and Practical Tips:  Part 2 (July 8)

This second meeting will walk through additional operations on the farm, using videos to demonstrate other particle-based hazards on the farm as well as other chemical hazards, and we will walk through considerations for respirator selection for these hazards as well.  This will reference previous Pesticide PPE Academy sessions and walk through a set of pesticide respirator selection decisions, again relying on label and safety data sheets to compile the list.  We will close out this session highlighting practical issues of:  size selection, things to remember when purchasing respiratory protection, fit testing resources, and demonstrating fit checks so you understand how and why to recommend this to others.  We recommend having a respirator on hand for this session for demonstration.  Again, you will be asked to grab (and temporarily save) screen shots during this presentation to work through some of the exercises we will present.