May Newsletter

You can’t give someone a health and safety title (health & safety
coordinator, safety officer, safety advisor, etc.) and the responsibilities that go with it without ensuring they have knowledge and skills they will need to fulfill their role.

Training is a process where people are provided with the knowledge and skills that they will need to perform their job well. Training should be designed based on the necessary competencies of the job. In the case of someone who would be in charge of safety on the farm, a sound understanding of health and safety fundamentals, the farm’s health and safety program, farm specific hazards & hazard controls, and familiarity with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) legislation would all be needed.

To be considered competent in a role, someone must be adequately qualified, suitably trained and with enough experience to perform the work well. Once competency is achieved, efforts must be made to maintain it, especially in the field of health and safety, as things like best practices, industry standards and OHS legislation change.

Knowing all of this, take a moment to identify the individual(s) in charge of the health and safety program on your farm. Consider what qualifications, training and experience they have and compare it to the qualifications, training and experience you need them to possess. You will have to make efforts to support them in becoming competent and this will include providing training that they may be lacking. Below are some resources that will support you in helping your farm team members with health and safety roles in working towards becoming competent.

All of the courses listed below can be accessed through the AgSafe Alberta website or by clicking HERE.

AgSafe Alberta FarmSafe Plan Learning Program
This is a free, self-paced learning program that introduces Alberta producers to health & safety fundamentals and how they can apply this information to their specific operations. This program was designed with both family farms and farms with employees in mind and will guide the learner in developing a farm-specific health and safety program.

AgSafe Alberta WHMIS 2015, Pesticide, Veterinary Drug and Medicated Feed Awareness Course
This course introduces the learner to the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) and has been developed to familiarize farm workers, employers and family members with WHMIS and other types of hazardous products (i.e., pesticides & veterinary drugs), and help farm team members learn where to find more information on the products they work with; and, gain an understanding of how to use these products safely.

Effective Health & Safety Representative Awareness Training
This course is designed for farms and ranches in Alberta with five to 19 regularly employed workers and who are required by Alberta OHS legislation to have a health and safety representative in place. It is recommended for health and safety representatives and farm owners or managers who want to better understand the role of a health and safety representative as well as their own role in supporting the health and safety representative.
 
Effective Health & Safety Committee Awareness Training
This course is designed for farms and ranches in Alberta with 20 or more regularly employed workers and who are required by Alberta OHS legislation to have a health and safety committee in place. It is recommended for health and safety committee members and farm owners or managers who want to better understand the role of a health and safety committee as well as their own role in supporting the health and safety committee.