S1E36 Homesteading Can Be Dangerous..... Do It Safely

The Homestead Journey

I had planned on covering a different topic on this episode. But this past Thursday a local farmer had a serious accident. Somehow she was entrapped in a hay baler. It was so bad they had to fly in a surgical team to surgically extract her from the equipment. That really is just a polite way to say that they had to cut off her arm.

Now, this certainly is not the first time I’ve been aware of a farming accident. Unfortunately, I have lost cousins in farming accidents. My good friend Carl was killed in an accident in 2018. And a friend of mine from church lost his father-in-law last fall in a tractor roll over accident. I could also share with you stories of other family members and friends who have been seriously injured in ag related accidents.

And so, this week I felt like it would be a good thing to talk about safety on the homestead. Did you know that in the US, 2 of the top most dangerous jobs are farming related? In fact, according to this article from USAToday.com, it is more dangerous to be a farmer than it is to be a police officer or firefighter.

But, it’s not just adults that are at risk on our farms or homesteads. Farms and homesteads can be a dangerous place for kids.

According to these stats from Rural Mutal Insurance:
* 1 child dies in an ag related incident every 3 days
* 33 children are seriously injured every day
* Tractors cause 40 % of accidental farm deaths of children under 15
* More than half of young children injured on the farm were not working but were bystanders or playing in the wrong spot.

These stats also reveal the following regards to the top sources of ag related deaths and injures:
Top Causes of Fatal Ag Injuries
* Machinery
* Motor Vehicles (includes ATVs)
*Drowning
Top Cause of Non-Fatal Ag Injuries
* Falls
* Animal
* Machinery/Vehicles

Now, I realize that there is a fine line between what constitutes farming and what constitutes homesteading. But, let’s face it. As homesteaders we use a lot of equipment that many people who live in urban and suburban areas don’t ever touch. We are also involved in things that many people who live in urban and suburban areas aren’t involved in like DIY projects, animal husbandry, and food preservation just to name a few.

All of these things; the equipment and projects carry a certain level of risk. And so, we need to manage that risk as best we can to ensure that we and our families do n

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