The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) at Northeast Iowa Community College’s (NICC) Peosta campus will be sponsoring webinars in observance of National Farm Safety & Health Week, September 20 – 26. The 2015 theme for National Farm Safety & Health Week is “Ag Safety is not just a slogan, it’s a lifestyle.” The webinars scheduled for each day of the week will be available at www.necasag.org, as well as more information and public service announcements related to this year’s theme. This year the NECAS webinars, offered each day at noon, will cover the following themes: Monday – Rural Roadway Tuesday – Confined Spaces in Agriculture Wednesday – Children’s Topics Thursday – Health Friday – Tractor Safety NECAS also invites everyone to join them for ‘AgChat’ on Tuesday, Sept. 22, from 7-9 p.m. (CST) The theme “Ag Safety is not just a slogan, it’s a lifestyle” reminds local and rural communities that agriculture is one of the most dangerous occupations in the U.S. and farm injuries and fatalities are preventable through education.
The most recent data from the U.S. Department of Labor indicates that in 2013 farming accounted for 500 fatalities, or 23.2 deaths per 100,000 workers. Each year since 1944, the third week of September has been recognized as National Farm Safety & Health Week. This recognition has been an annual promotion initiated by the National Safety Council and has been proclaimed as such by each sitting U.S. President since Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the first document. Over the years, the development and dissemination of National Farm Safety & Health Week materials shifted from the National Safety Council to NECAS. NECAS is the agricultural partner for the National Safety Council and has been serving the agricultural family and business community since 1997. As we recognize National Farm Safety & Health Week this September, please join us in promoting safe and healthy practices on our farms and ranches across the U.S. and in our neighboring countries as producers enter the harvest season. NECAS welcomes the collaboration and participation of community members in this year’s observance, and would like to thank the Illinois Farm Bureau for its work in developing the “Ag safety is not just a slogan, it’s a lifestyle” logo this year.
For more information, contact: Gloria Reiter, NECAS administrative assistant, at (888) 844-6322, ext. 371, or reiterg@nicc.edu; or Dan Neenan, NECAS director, at (888) 844-6322, ext. 248, or neenand@nicc.edu.
Additional information about NECAS is available at www.necasag.org.
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