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FRANKFORT,
Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer asks Kentucky
farmers to take an extra moment to think about safety
as they go about the business of raising our food and
fiber.
Governor
Ernie Fletcher has proclaimed Sept. 19-25 as Farm Safety
and Health Week in Kentucky to raise awareness of safety
issues in Kentucky's most dangerous occupation.
“Farmers
face all kinds of unique hazards in the course of their
daily work,” Commissioner Farmer said. “Machinery, livestock,
chemicals, grain dust and other hazards put our farmers
at risk. A moment of carelessness on the farm can result
in injury or death.”
Commissioner
Farmer urged farmers as well as motorists to exercise
caution as more farm equipment is operated on Kentucky
roads in the coming weeks during the harvest season.
Twenty-four
people died in farm-related mishaps in Kentucky in 2003,
according to the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research
Center. That is one less than in 2002 and less than
half the number of farm deaths recorded in Kentucky
in 1995.
The
Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Farm and Home Safety
Program conducts demonstrations and mock rescues throughout
the Commonwealth. The mock rescues feature real emergency
personnel who treat “victims” of farm-related accidents
– tractor rollovers, all-terrain vehicle accidents
and others – and prepare them to be airlifted
to a hospital. The program also uses one-of-a-kind tractor
rollover and grain bin simulators to illustrate two
common farming dangers and how accidents can be prevented.
For
more information on the Farm and Home Safety Program,
call the Kentucky Department of Agriculture at (502)
564-4696.
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