Free agricultural safety workshops begin October 2009

Salem OR - Beginning October 26, SAIF Corporation's annual series of safety workshops for agricultural employers will be held around Oregon through spring 2010. For the past 14 years, thousands of farm owners, managers, and workers have attended SAIF's agricultural training seminars, learning how to be safe in one of the country's most hazardous occupations.

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-five seminars will be held in 16 cities throughout Oregon beginning in October and ending in March. Five seminars — in The Dalles, Hillsboro, Salem, Medford, and Wilsonville — will be conducted entirely in Spanish. Seminars will run from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and lunch is included.

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.

Seminar topics:
Risk management principles
Risk Management Consultant Kirk Lloyd will share ideas for personnel management that can help stop undesirable employee behavior and encourage safety. He will also discuss how to improve a hazardous workplace by addressing problems like broken steps, clutter, and bad wiring. In addition, Kirk will introduce the basic OSHA requirements for agriculture.

Create your plan to meet OSHA standards
Kirk Lloyd will review OSHA requirements for agriculture and describe recent changes to the codes. He will explain compliance guidelines for the major OSHA programs, including the Worker Protection Standard, Safety Committees, and Energy Control. You will have an opportunity to prepare a customized take-home action plan with a checklist to help simplify the process of meeting these OSHA standards.

Proven to reduce injuries: Safety In Motion®
Each year, SAIF handles more than 15,000 claims related to strains and sprains, accounting for 40 percent of all claims. Such injuries cost SAIF and its policyholders more than $90 million annually. SAIF Senior Safety Management Consultant Kevin Pfau will show you simple, effective ways to reduce your risk of strain and sprain injuries, using Safety In Motion®, a system with proven success in reducing injuries at companies across the country.

Fatal hazards
Agricultural work presents unique hazards, such as operating dangerous machinery in extreme weather and terrain. SAIF's Kevin Pfau will share real cases of fatalities caused by common dangers. He will also provide practical ways you can protect your workers and help everyone go home safely at the end of the day.

Dates and locations
For seminar dates and locations, and to register for a seminar, go to www.saif.com/agseminars and select "English Sessions" or "Spanish Sessions."

Expert presenters
SAIF's team of presenters brings decades of experience in agriculture safety to this series:

Kirk Lloyd is President of Risk Management Resources, Inc. Kirk has worked in the farm safety field since 1988, and has managed his own consulting firm since 1996. He was raised on a working family farm and earned a degree in agricultural economics from the University of Idaho in 1979. His company provides practical consulting services and informative training seminars to help Northwest growers manage employees, improve safety results, and reduce exposure to Oregon OSHA compliance problems.

Kevin Pfau is a senior safety management consultant at SAIF Corporation. Kevin specialized in farm and ranch underwriting for State Farm Insurance before coming to SAIF. Kevin brings a strong farming background to this seminar and to SAIF, with
personal experience in onions, grass seed, and livestock. He earned his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Oregon State University, is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and a certified Oregon workers' compensation claims examiner.

Edgard Antonio Garcia has an extensive background in Spanish translation and interpretation and has worked with Andalex Language Services, Pacific Interpreters, Early Head Start Family Services of Portland, Freightliner LLC, Vesta Corp., AT&T, Sprint, and more. He received his certificate in personnel administration and human resources from the U.S. Navy and his degree in Spanish language and literature from Lewis & Clark College. Edgard has been a part of SAIF's Spanish agricultural safety seminars since 2004. (Five seminars will be conducted entirely in Spanish.)

Learn more
For more information regarding the SAIF agricultural safety seminar series, contact SAIF at 800.285.8525 or go to www.saif.com/agseminars.