Farming is a big industry in Canada, which means the safety of farm workers is very important.  

This is the second year the Canadian Agriculture Safety and Health Association has partnered with Farm Credit Canada to offer grants for agriculture safety across Canada.  They made a $100,000 donation to organizations across the country to deliver agriculture safety and health training programs. Last year the money was given to 8 projects and this year the funding is being distributed to 9 projects across Canada.  

Glen Blahey, CASA's Agriculture Health and Safety Specialist says agricultural safety is a very important thing to CASA, and the FCC as well.  "Who better than to get community based organizations to promote health and safety within the community?" he asks. "The challenge that exists is that most community based organizations have challenges raising money, and this was an opportunity for CASA and FCC to support these community based organizations in promoting health and safety."

Blahey says there are 9 different projects being funded and they range from the delivery of training programs at the University of Manitoba on how to develop a Farm Health and Safety program, to the actual training farm workers across Canada.

"It covers issues of awareness, training individuals on issues related to sleep deprivation and safe farm work, the training of farm workers in British Columbia on health and safety issues and the use of protective equipment, as well as first aid training for youth who will then share there knowledge in their families,"  he says. "They will  work on safe operating practices in Alberta, training sessions in Alberta for farmers as they bring on workers, in terms of insuring that the farmers have the appropriate skills of training their new farm workers within the areas of health and safety."

There are many unique projects being funded to ensure the safety of farm workers across Canada.