| OCR Text |
Show j' Farm Safety Week A recent one -year survey conducted by the National Safety. Council in 15 heavily agricultural state s showed an estimated 204,000 injuries to farm workers, residents, resi-dents, and visitors in those areas. Farm machinery was involved in the greatest number of injuries (22 percent), followed by animals (13 percent), hand tools (8 percent), per-cent), and power tools (5 percent). "It is evident that we still have a long way to go in educating people how to use farm tools, machinery, and equipment safely," the NSC said. Farmers and ranchers are urged to train their workers both family and employed. Show them how to do each job safely. Supervise them until they can manage man-age the work with competence and safety. Read safety articles and items in publications. publica-tions. Read and heed instruction manuals and product labels. Education today can prevent accidents tomorrow. i The week of July 25-31 has been pro claimed National Farm Safety Week by i President Gerald R. Ford. The theme of I - this year's observance sponsored by the , National Safety Council (NSC), and the VS. c Department of Agriculture (USDA), is "Ed-I "Ed-I - ucate for Safety." This marks the 33rd con-(. con-(. secutive observance of an annual safety event that began during World War II in an effort to promote safety consciousness and reduce costly accidents that cut agricultural J productivity. Accidents in 1975 claimed the lives of 1 approximately 5,500 farm residents and i caused about 500,000 disabling injuries, ac-, ac-, cording to the NationalSafetyCouncil.More than half of the deaths occurred in motor ' vehicle accidents. About one -fourth of the j deaths and 140,000 disabling injuries were i caused by farm work accidents. The costof farm accidents, including farm fires, is estimated at $3 billion annually. Secretary of Agriculture Earl L. Butz said: "American farmers pride themselves ! in being safety -minded and safety-moti-! vated. They are both the teachers and the 4- -vtaaght. They-.are - the- parties at- Tisk- when : " I accidents occur and they know it." ! "Agricultural safety education involves I person to person training in a work situa- tion. It requires a teacher aware of hazards j. and an attentive learner to whom example is more effective than written text. Safety i ,; education pays off by preventing human suffering and economic loss. The best in- struction, however, is meaningless unless . farmers, ranchers, their families and em- j ! ployees remain constantly alert and use good I judgement on the job." . i . " |
