Ergonomic Safety for Farm Women Webinar Summary

Women historically have had many roles on the farm to include, wife, mother, keeper of the homestead, teacher, cook, bookkeeper, manager, supervisor, purchaser, farmer, off farm worker, etc.  These roles are often times fulfilled concurrently.  Getting tasks on the farm done, is about getting them done as quickly and safely as possible to continue on with the long list of other chores that need to be done yesterday.  It is not until there is an incident or injury on the farm or waking up with aches and pains that we wonder, what happened

I participated in the webinar Ergonomic Safety for Farm Women by AgriSafe Network on December 1, 2020 to share with you resources that are available that can help ergonomic injury prevention.  I am not talking about just setting up your office space for when you settle in to do the administrative tasks for the farm late in the evening; I am talking about things that can help prevent ergonomic related injuries while doing farming tasks throughout the day.

Here is what I learned.

Ergonomics is how people work in their environment and designing the task to fit the worker.  Musculoskeletal (MSD) Injuries affect tendons, nerves, ligaments and are the leading cause of lost time injuries and illnesses on the farm.

Contributing Factors to Injury for Farm Women include:

Prevention Strategies

Correct Lifting Techniques:

Engineering, Administrative and PPE Controls:

 

Final Word:

To all the women farmers out there, I bid you to take the ergonomic challenge.  It won’t be easy, but you will be thankful that you did in years to come.  Identify the hazards that can cause ergonomic injuries on your farm and implement the hazard controls to prevent them!!