National Farm Safety & Health Week set for Sept. 20-26; plenty of materials avaialable for journalists

This year's theme for National Farm Safety & Health Week is "Ag Safety is not just a slogan; it's a lifestyle." The safety week, scheduled from Sept. 20-26, was created to "remind local and rural communities that agriculture is one of the most dangerous occupations in the U.S. and farm injuries and fatalities are preventable through education," states a press release from the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) at Northeast Iowa Community College.

U.S. Department of Labor data says that in 2013 farming accounted for 500 fatalities, or 23.2 deaths per every 100,000 workers, states the release. "Each year since 1944, the third week of September has been recognized as National Farm Safety & Health Week. This recognition has been an annual promotion initiated by the National Safety Council and has been proclaimed as such by each sitting U.S. President since Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the first document."

From Monday through Friday, Sept. 21-25, NECAS will host a safety webinar. Webinars scheduled are: Rural Roadway Safety Webinar; Confined Spaces - Manure Pit Entry; Harvest Season: Are the Children Safe?; Agrisafe: Healthier is Here; and Research to Practice in Agriculture: The National ROPS Rebate Program. There will also be a program, "AgChat" on Sept. 22. The NECAS website also has a list or resources for story ideas.

In addition, 10 agricultural centers have joined forces to create a YouTube channel that features 80 safety training videos. Topics include grain bins, dairy, tractor rollovers and heat illness. Five new videos were added recently, including four on needlestick injuries (two Spanish, two English) and one on hearing protection.