Salem OR - Beginning October 27, SAIF Corporation's annual series of safety workshops for agricultural employers will be held around Oregon through spring 2009.
The free, half-day, comprehensive seminars are designed for owners, operators, supervisors and foremen — although anyone working in the agricultural industry is welcome to attend.
Twenty-four seminars will be held in 16 cities throughout Oregon beginning in October and ending in March. Four seminars — in The Dalles, Hillsboro, Salem, and Wilsonville — will be conducted entirely in Spanish.
Small agricultural employers attending the seminar will meet one of the four requirements that exempt small agricultural establishments from random OSHA inspections. Attending this seminar meets the instructional requirement.
To see the full schedule or to register, go to: www.saif.com/agseminars.
Seminar topics
Each seminar will address four issues that affect virtually every agriculture operation:
Risk management principles: Understanding the principles of risk management and the leadership techniques that really work to reduce injuries.
Farm shop safety: Reviewing the most common safety violations, and getting helpful suggestions on how to avoid injury, stay in compliance, and use the farm shop to set higher standards for other work areas.
Pesticide safety: Recognizing pesticide poisoning and better understanding toxicity for the various classes of pesticides, plus practical pesticide handling safety tips. (One hour of credit to maintain ODA pesticide certification.)
Fatal hazards: Practical ways to help protect workers from some of the most significant and common hazards in a wide variety of agricultural settings.
Expert presenters
The team of presenters at SAIF's ag safety seminars brings decades of experience in agriculture safety to this series:
Kirk Lloyd again will be the featured speaker throughout the series. Mr. Lloyd has worked in the farm safety field since 1988, and has operated his own consulting firm, Risk Management Resources, since 1996.
Kevin Pfau of SAIF will join Mr. Lloyd. Pfau is a senior safety management consultant, holds an MBA from Oregon State University, and has both insurance industry experience and personal experience in farming and ranching.
Edgard Antonia Garcia, who has an extensive background in translation and interpretation, will again present the four seminars in Spanish.
For more information regarding the SAIF ag safety seminar series, contact SAIF at 800.285.8525 or go to www.saif.com/agseminars.
ABOUT SAIF CORPORATION
SAIF Corporation is Oregon's not-for-profit, state-chartered workers' compensation insurance company. For more information about SAIF, go to www.saif.com/news/news_media.htm.
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To request an electronic copy of the art that goes with this story, contact Linnea Garcia (lingar@saif.com).