Agricultural work carries significant risks to health and safety both on and off the farm. Among all occupations, farming, forestry and fishing have the highest fatality rate (US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2022). Agricultural workers interact with heavy equipment, restricted use pesticides, roadway and on-farm transportation, extreme heat, and physically demanding tasks. The workers’ health and hygiene on-farm can also affect produce safety off-farm. The CDC estimates that 51.6% of all US foodborne outbreaks from 1998 to 2016 were caused by contaminated produce (Source: Food Safety on the Farm). Agricultural employers have the heavy lift of managing the multitude of risks through proper management practices, insurance, signage, and employee safety training (Source: Risk Management Planning for Agricultural Business Owners).
With safety videos becoming more available online, employers can access training materials on-demand. Instead of a lengthy workshop, many videos offer targeted, quick updates. Training videos are often offered in multiple languages as well. All of the above makes it more feasible to give regular safety refreshers in languages employees understand. However, quickly finding relevant, accurate training materials on the internet can quickly become a time sink. A local grower who serves on my Extension Advisory Committee shared his difficulty in assembling “a tremendous amount of regulatory and advisory training material into a compact and adequate bundle which can be presented to a farm team in a reasonable time frame. Say it’s Monday morning and we want to have a training session. Where do we start? The list is growing longer by the year.” Training topics sought include food safety, Worker Protection Standard, and worker safety.
This article provides a curated compilation of farm safety videos sourced from across the University of Florida, PERC, and the US Department of Labor.
Farm Safety
UF/IFAS Extension Regional Pesticide and Farm Safety Agent, Cesar Asuaje of Palm Beach County has prepared a series of farm safety videos in English and Spanish, some of which are free! Cesar’s videos include Agricultural Shop Safety, EPA-approved Worker Protection Standard (WPS) Training for trainers, WPS Respiratory Protection, and general Farm Safety.
Produce Safety
UF/IFAS State Specialized Food Safety Extension Agent Taylor O’Bannon wants you to know that the UF-FAMU Produce Safety Extension team offers a series called “Produce Safety in Minutes”. The short topic-focused training videos are available in English and Spanish. Additionally, Taylor shares that the Produce Safety Alliance collaborated with UF to create a fruit and vegetable worker health and hygiene training video, available in English, Spanish, Creole, and Hmong.
Pesticide Safety
The University of Florida’s Extension Online Learning platform offers a variety of pesticide safety training programs, most of which provide continuing education units (CEU’s) for licensed pesticide applicators. Topics covered include pesticide exam study preparation and mitigating pesticide risks through awareness of drift, product labeling, integrated pest management, pesticide formulations, environmental precautions, pollinator/wildlife protections, tank mixing, equipment calibration, personal protective equipment, and much more.
Worker Protection Standard
In addition to the WPS Train-the-Trainer videos offered by Cesar Asuaje, you can find EPA-approved WPS training videos specifically for workers and pesticide handlers through the Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative (PERC).
The PERC videos address worker/handler safety in greenhouses, nurseries, vegetable production, orchards, forestry, and more. The videos are free and both Spanish and English versions are available.
Occupational Safety and Health
The US Department of Labor created an Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) video series, covering a wide variety of safety topics.
Additionally, the University of Florida has a new Agricultural Safety and Health program, led by Dr. Serap Gorucu. Training videos are coming soon, but in the meantime, check out their in-person trainings, injury statistics, fact sheets, and research publications.
We hope these resources can help address your employee training needs more readily. Check back periodically for updates and reach out to your local UF or FAMU Extension office if you have need for more resources, including in-person training.
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