No One Can Replace You: Impaired Driving
Published
3/7/2018
If you caught our previous post or have seen the MFBF Facebook page, you likely know its Agricultural Safety Awareness Program (ASAP) Week. This week we’ve been talking to you about elements of safety that can easily be incorporated into the daily practices on your farm or ranch. Each day has a theme and you’ll find loads of great tips, information and resources to help you incorporate safety strategies and share them with others. While all that great information is on Facebook each day, we’re going to be recapping it here on the blog so you can easily and quickly refer to these tips whenever necessary.
Today is all about safe driving and sharing tips to make you savvier behind the wheel.
Impaired Driving
OSHA reports that “every 12 minutes someone dies in a motor vehicle crash, every 10 seconds an injury occurs and every 5 seconds a crash occurs.” That’s a pretty staggering statistic—we don’t want you to become a part of it. Think you know it all when it comes to impaired driving? Take this quiz to test your knowledge of impaired driving.
When it comes to farm related driving hazards tractors take the lead. According to OSHA, “tractor overturns are the leading cause of fatalities in the agriculture industry, resulting in approximately 130 deaths per year.” The PTO system of any piece of equipment is as equally dangerous—and deadly—as rolling one over.
These OSHA General Safety Precautions will help keep you, your loved ones and your employees safe around tractors and other equipment.
- Ensure operators and workers are thoroughly familiar with farm machinery.
- Conduct preoperational safety checks, review proper operating procedures and ensure that tractor safety decals and stickers are clearly visible.
- Ensure operators are familiar with the ground where the tractors will be used
- Keep kids away from tractors and their implements.
- Prevent indoor carbon monoxide buildup by ensuring adequate ventilation is always available.
- Employers should train tractor operators to avoid highways during busy peak travel times or poor visibility.
Impaired driving is a serious issue, whether you’re in farm or ranch country or not. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported alcohol-impaired driving accounted for 28% of the vehicular fatalities in 2016.
Always have a designated driver, always wear your seat belt and always use caution when operating tractors and other farm equipment.
Check back tomorrow more tips and information as we continue to celebrate ASAP week!
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