SAFETY PROGRAMS

OUR MISSION: To provide safety awareness and to encourage implementation of good safety practices. We will assist in achieving the harvesters' common goals. These include a completed safe harvest, with no bodily injury and no physical damage.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the Safety Committee are 1) to improve the safety record of all custom harvest operations, 2) to increase the awareness of the importance of good safety practices in custom harvest operations, 3) to give the USCHI members tools with which to make each operation safer, 4) to implement a plan for including hay and forage harvesters in our safety tools.

STRATEGIES: These objectives were reached through talking personally to many custom harvest operators and through compiling the results of the Safety Surveys, which were completed in late 1999. From the information gleaned, it appears that the following strategies would be the most helpful in achieving the stated objectives:

• Give USCHI members such tools as videos and handbooks, which will help in individual operations.
• Keep safety in front of the membership frequently throughout the year, with an ongoing USCHI safety committee. This will include state involvement, with state safety chairmen helping the general safety committee.
• Work with insurance companies and equipment companies who have records of past failures in safety efforts.
• Have ongoing communication and information gathering from all harvesters, to include hay and forage operations.

TACTICS: Finally, we must have tactics to accomplish the objectives. Taking into account the strategies listed, the following tactics may be implemented.

• Set intermediate and long-term goals for the committee as follows:

   Immediate          State Chapter Involvement
                            Ongoing Committee
                            Work on Safety Handbook
                            Implement a plan for including hay and forage operations

   Intermediate       Ongoing Committee
                            Work on Safety Handbook

   Long Term          Comprehensive USCHI Handbook
                            Updated Video
                            Ongoing Committee
                            Consider Re-instituting Awards

• Hold safety seminars at conventions, to include safety speakers, and put safety information in monthly newsletters.
• Utilize state safety chairmen and other committee members to gather any and all information on past accidents, accident rates, and other related information from insurance companies. Act on this information in any way beneficial to USCHI and it's members.
• Work on getting the current safety videos and associated tests and printed information into the hands of all members. Impress on members the importance of sharing them with crews.
• Put together a safety handbook for USCHI members' use. This could include sections on truck safety, combine safety, loading and unloading, health history of family and crew, emergency procedures and numbers, and other information.

PROGRESS IN MOTION

SAFETY CHECKLIST

SAFETY HANDBOOK

CONTRIBUTORS