Covington, LA – For the 80th year in a row, the United States is celebrating National Farm Safety and Health Week (NFSHW) during the third week of September – this year it takes place September 15-21, 2024. NFSHW is a time to increase awareness of the high injury and fatality risk in agriculture and to improve agricultural health outcomes through outreach and education. Data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injury shows that in 2022 the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries had the highest rate of fatal work injuries compared to other occupations, at 23.5 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers – the majority due to incidents with transportation or equipment (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). Preventative education is key to reduce the workplaces rates of injuries and fatalities, which is aptly mirrored in the 2024 NFSHW theme chosen by the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS), “Don’t Learn Safety by Accident.”
AgriSafe is proud to support this cause, hosting 11 free educational webinars for NFSHW from Monday the 16th through Friday the 20th. Each weekday has a specific topic: Monday is Equipment and Rural Roadway Safety; Tuesday is Health and Wellness; Wednesday is Generations of Farming; Thursday is Confined Spaces; and Friday is Reporting Ag Injuries. All webinars will take place on Zoom from 11am-12pm CT and 1-2pm CT and will have live Spanish interpretation (except for the bonus webinar for ag educators which will take place 3-4pm CT on Wednesday). Many topics will be covered during this week, including skid loader safety, farm succession planning, oxygen deficiency in confined spaces, using apps to assess heat stress risks, and more! For more information or to register for these free webinars please visit: https://www.agrisafe.org/nfshw/.
If you are interested in promoting National Farm Safety and Health Week, check out AgriSafe’s marketing materials for the webinars in our Dropbox, view the NFSHW promotional toolkit from the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH) on their website, and access the NFSHW logo from the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) on their website.
AgriSafe is grateful for the sponsors and partners that make National Farm Safety and Health Week successful: the Central States Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (CS-CASH); the Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention, and Education; the Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety; the Agri-Services Agency (ASA); CHS; Pork Checkoff; the National Corn Growers Association; GreenPoint Ag; and Successful Farming.
For media inquiries, please contact Laura Siegel, AgriSafe’s Health Communications Officer, at lsiegel@agrisafe.org. To explore options for sponsoring AgriSafe initiatives, please contact Allison Flynn, AgriSafe’s Development Coordinator, at aflynn@agrisafe.org.
About AgriSafe Network:
AgriSafe Network is a national 501©3 non-profit that educates health care professionals and agricultural communities about important health and safety information for those working in agriculture, fishing, and forestry. They bring together national experts to develop educational
materials that can be delivered both digitally and in-person. Their mission is to protect the people who feed the world – and in addition to education, they are cultivating a network of trained agricultural health and safety professionals that understand and support Total Farmer Health®. For more information, visit their website, and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
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