In part of building a sustainable farm series, we have looked at employee engagement and return on investment. A big part of building a sustainable farm is giving employees the tools they need to help you get there. Training is typically the delivery method to give employees the tools they need to be successful in completing their day to day tasks but also live your farms mission and vision.
The Farm Sustainability Assessment in section FSA100 asks, “Do you organize regular health and safety training for all permanent and temporary workers, including the farmer?” Section 4:5 of the Farm Safety Plan gives information on orientation and training with section 4:6 giving a resource for building a training plan and developing a training matrix. The orientation is a great way to start employee training. The orientation gives an overall introduction of the operation of the farm, the workers rights and responsibilities under occupational health and safety legislation, a communication process for health and safety, a hazard identification, risk assessment and hazard control process, an overview of safe work practices and safe job procedures to performing hazardous tasks, incident reporting procedures, and emergency preparedness to include evacuation, emergency equipment, and emergency response plans.
Further to the orientation, training may include first aid, WHMIS, forklift, confined space, fall protection, chainsaw, Lockout/Tagout, OHS committee, safety program management and OHS Legislation courses. Visit the Farm Safety Website by clicking the following link (https://farmsafetyns.ca/training-workshops/) to view and sign up for courses that may be of benefit in building a competent work force and in turn a sustainable farm. If preferred, phone 902-893-2203 to ask about courses offered with Farm Safety Nova Scotia.
