SAIF agriculture safety seminars underway
Twenty-four seminars, including four in Spanish, will be held from October 2007 through March 2008.
The free, four-hour seminars are designed primarily for owners, operators, supervisors and foremen, although anyone working in the agricultural industry is welcome to attend. Twenty-four seminars will be held in 17 cities throughout Oregon beginning in October and ending in March. Four seminars will be conducted entirely in Spanish.
The full schedule is available at www.saif.com/agseminars.
Small employers attending the seminar will meet the instructional requirement for OAR 437-001-57 (12) that exempts small agricultural establishments from random OSHA inspections. SAIF has applied for one hour of pesticide re-certification credit from the Oregon Department of Agriculture for these sessions.
Workshop topics
One of the two core topics for this season's series is "Practical Application of Risk Management Principles." The principles of risk management will be reviewed and management practices that can significantly reduce the chances of injury occurring in agri-business will be presented. Participants will leave with the ability to teach these same practices to their employees or co-workers and apply them in their workplaces.
The other core topic, "Pesticide Safety Issues," will include a follow-up on the OR-OSHA changes to respiratory protection standards introduced last year. The workshop also will review safety suggestions and compliance requirements for farm pesticide storage facilities – which receives particular attention from regulators.
New feature: Variable topics
This year's series includes a new feature: workplace safety topics that will vary from session to session. Only two of the four variable topics will be discussed at any one seminar, depending on the location. The topics are livestock safety, machine guarding for agriculture, orchards and ladder work, and ergonomics in agriculture. See full descriptions of the variable topics on the SAIF website.
Kirk Lloyd again will be the featured speaker throughout the series. Lloyd has worked in the farm safety field since 1988, and has operated his own consulting firm, Risk Management Resources, since 1996. He will be joined by Karyn Bustos-Heater, a risk management consultant with Lloyd's firm. The four sessions in Spanish will be presented by Edgard Antonio Garcia.
For more information regarding these workshops contact SAIF Corporation at 800.285.8525 or go to www.saif.com/agseminars.