Safety in Agriculture for Youth

Safety in Agriculture for Youth (SAY) is a grant project funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop a sustainable and accessible national clearinghouse for agricultural safety and health curriculum for youth. For the funding period of 2021 – 2025, the SAY Project now consists of three funded project that each focus on a different aspect of youth farm safety. The projects are housed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Ohio State University and Utah State University and will respectively focus on the SAY National Clearinghouse Project (e.g., SAY Clearinghouse, curricula submission and review, and marketing), Youth Farm Safety Education and Certification (YFSEC) Instructor Training and YFSEC Youth Training.

***New Resources***

Teacher resource guides will assist instructors with integrating curricula hosted in the SAY Clearinghouse by providing teaching methods to instructors on preparing students with safety instruction. The following teacher resource guides are available:

Foundational Safety Related Technical Knowledge and Skills – Teacher Resource Guide: Grain Safety Example

Animal Systems Career Pathway Teacher Resource Guide – Right from the Start: Safety Awareness for Livestock Producers

Animal Systems Career Pathway Teacher Resource Guide – Positive Animal Handling (Stockmanship) on Dairy Farms

Power, Structural and Technical System Teacher Resource Guide

SAY National Clearinghouse

The SAY National Clearinghouse consists of two different types of educational products: formal curricula and other supporting resources and provides their alignment to Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR) Career Cluster Content Standards related to agricultural safety and health. Click on the link below to access the SAY National Clearinghouse:

         SAY National Clearinghouse

Each educational resource has a page that provides you with a description, type of resource, language (English and/or Spanish), website link to resource, and alignment chart to AFRN standards.

Learn how to use the SAY Clearinghouse through the following videos:

SAY Teacher Update 2017 – Segment 1:  https://youtu.be/M-x-89-zvtQ

SAY Teacher Update 2017 – Segment 2: https://youtu.be/VIxXN-C_5dQ

SAY Teacher Update 2017 – Segment 3: https://youtu.be/Bzj8RSWNKN4

SAY Teacher Update 2017 – Segment 4: https://youtu.be/6T-VJ-JH2mM

Submitting your Ag Safety and Health Curriculum

Click HERE to be directed to submission instructions and link to submit your curriculum through the Curriculum Alignment Submission Tool (CAST).

Belief Statements & Guiding Principles for Youth Working in Ag

The Safety in Agriculture for Youth (SAY) Project National Steering Committee developed a belief statements document regarding youth working in agriculture. The belief statements outline consensus-based beliefs and principles that promote safety and health for youth working in agriculture. Click HERE for more information.

Injury Risk Assessment for SAE

The injury risk assessment for supervised agricultural experience (SAE) was developed by Utah State University through the SAY Project. Click HERE to access all of the components of the risk assessment.

SAY Project eNews

The SAY Project produces an eNews 3-4 times per year which is sent to those on the listserv and the SAY National Steering Committee. Links to the past eNews are below:

July 2021
October 2021
May 2022
August 2022
December 2022
March 2023

OSHA 10-Hour General Industry (Agriculture) Course

CareerSafe is now offering an online training course providing training for entry level workers and employers. Visit the SAY National Clearinghouse for more information about the online training course.

National Youth Farm and Ranch Safety Symposium

The National Youth Farm and Ranch Safety Symposium was held in October 2014 in Lexington, KY. Click HERE to learn more about the symposium and to view the presentations.

Connecting with SAY

How to get connected? To stay up-to-date on the SAY Project and its objectives, sign up for alerts by subscribing to the listserv at SAY-L-subscribe-request@lists.psu.edu. Follow SAY on Facebook (AgSafety4u) and Twitter (@AgSafety4u). If you have any feedback or suggestions, email Linda Fetzer at lmf8psu.edu.

Newsletters and Reports

Additional Resources

SAY Project Background

Powerpoint from Webinar on November 14, 2013

Summarized and reviewed by:
Linda M. Fetzer, Penn State University – lmf8@psu.edu

Davis E. Hill, Penn State University (has since retired)

Dennis J. Murphy, Penn State University (has since retired)

Injury Risk Assessment for Supervised Agricultural Experiences

 

Injury Risk Assessment

(Source: Utah State University)

A supervised agricultural experience (SAE) is one of the three key components of an agricultural education program for high school students. An SAE provides a student with an experiential learning opportunity and is based on one or more of the following categories: entrepreneurship, placement, research and experimentation, or exploration.

Importance of an Injury Risk Assessment Protocol for SAEs

The SAE is a broadly defined experience for students and can include but is not limited to working in a job or an internship on a farm or ranch, owning and operating an agricultural business, planning and conducting a scientific experiment, or exploring agricultural career opportunities. The Injury Risk Assessment for SAEs protocol is a resource for evaluating work sites to assess risks for individuals involved with production-based SAEs on those work sites. Production-based SAE safety evaluations and risk assessments must be integral parts of agricultural educators’ visits to production-based SAE sites. Click here to learn more about the importance of safety in production-based SAEs.

Components of the Injury Risk Assessment for SAEs Protocol

The Injury Risk Assessment for SAEs protocol includes the following components:

SAE Safety Daily Lesson Plan – The daily lesson plan provides agricultural educators with a complete 30-minute lesson that includes an SAE Safety slide presentation.

SAE Code of Practice for Safety Risk Assessment – Educators, employers, and/or parents can have students review and sign this agreement form to state that they will represent their school and FFA Chapter positively with regard to promoting and strengthening student safety while completing an SAE. The Code of Practice should be completed at the beginning of a student’s SAE or the beginning of each school year or as an assignment related to a unit of instruction in an SAE.

Student Self-Assessment of SAE – Students complete this self-evaluation to assess an SAE in relation to supervision, working conditions, and emergencies. The self-assessment should be completed by students as an assignment within the first two weeks of an SAE. An administrator of the SAE should file the completed form for future reference.

Teacher/Parent/Employer Safety Assessment of Student’s SAE – This easy-to-use assessment form was developed specifically for a teacher, a parent, or an employer to conduct a safety assessment of a student’s SAE, based on the job, working conditions, and injury preparedness. Ideally, this form should be completed after the student completes the SAE Code of Practice and Student Self-Assessment documents and after or in conjunction with a scheduled SAE visit. Again, an administrator of the SAE should file the completed form for future reference.

Return to the Safety in Agriculture for Youth (SAY) page.

Reviewed and Summarized by:
Linda M. Fetzer, Pennsylvania State University – lmf8@psu.edu
Michael Pate, Utah State University – michael.pate@usu.eduRebecca G. Lawver, Utah State University – Rebecca.lawver@usu.edu
Dennis J. Murphy, Penn State University (Has since retired)

Belief Statements and Guiding Principles for Youth Working in Agriculture

The Safety in Agriculture for Youth (SAY) Project National Steering Committee developed a belief statements document regarding youth working in agriculture. The belief statements outline consensus-based beliefs and principles that promote safety and health for youth working in agriculture. Click HERE to view the formal PDF version of the belief statements.

To date, the belief statement has been endorsed by the following organizations:

  • Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA)
  • AgriSafe Network
  • American Association for Agricultural Education
  • American Farm Bureau Federation
  • Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM)
  • CareerSafe Online
  • Carle Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety
  • Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CSCASH)
  • College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, Utah State University
  • Farm Safety 4 Just Kids
  • Grain Handling Safety Coalition
  • Great Plains Center for Agricultural Safety and Health
  • High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety
  • National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
  • National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety
  • National Council for Agricultural Education
  • National Council of Agricultural Employers
  • National FFA Organization
  • National Grange
  • New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH)
  • North Carolina Agromedicine Institute
  • Northeast Center for Occupational Safety and Health (NEC)
  • Ohio State Agricultural Safety and Health
  • Penn State Agricultural Safety and Health Program
  • Progressive Agriculture Foundation
  • Purdue University Agricultural Safety and Health Program
  • Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Injury Prevention and Education
  • University of Illinois Extension Agricultural Safety Program
  • University of Missouri Extension Agricultural Safety and Health Program
  • Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH)

List updated June 11, 2018

If your state, multi-state, or national organization would like to endorse the belief statements, email Dr. Aida Balsano with copy to Dr. Aaron Yoder.

Belief Statements

  • Creating and promoting a culture of safety among youth working in agriculture is a primary goal for all stakeholders.
  • All youth working in agriculture deserve protection from workplace hazards and risks that may be associated with agricultural worksites.
  • Youth developmental principles are the basis for determining if and when a youth should participate in agricultural work.
  • Supervision of youth performing jobs or tasks should be guided by professionally recognized best practices based on developmental stages of growth.
  • Research and evaluation should guide development of safety and health best practice recommendations and guidelines.
  • Evidenced-based, culturally appropriate models should be utilized to educate about agricultural safety and health.
  • Hired youth working on farms subject to Occupational Safety and Health Act enforcement should be informed of applicable rights to a safe workplace, training, personal protective equipment, and to ask questions or raise concerns about their safety.

Guiding Principles for Practice

  • Parents, employers, agricultural educators, healthcare providers, and safety and health professionals play critical roles in designing and implementing youth agricultural safety education and training that is comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, accessible, and effective.
  • College and university agricultural science and education teacher preparation programs should include agricultural safety and health education that meets Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (AFNR) Career Cluster Content Standards and/or appropriate state standards.
  • Secondary school education and programs should include agricultural safety and health education that meets Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (AFNR) Career Cluster Content Standards and/or appropriate state standards.
  • Cooperative Extension education and programs should include agricultural safety and health education that is evidenced-based and meets appropriate state standards. Extension educators should consider developing safety and health educational curricula that align with AFNR Career Cluster Content Standards.
  • Agricultural worksite hazard assessment programs should be in place, including regularly updated safety checklists, injury prevention programs, and regular review of health and safety best practices.
  • Education and training for parents, employers, and other supervisors of youth workers should include instruction about:
    • Existing age-based work laws/regulations
    • Physical and cognitive abilities of youth
    • Need for appropriate supervision and training
    • Basic emergency response practices, both general and specific to the workplace
    • Basic hazard and risk reduction techniques such as the safety hierarchy, Job Safety Analysis, injury and near-injury investigations, and lockout/tagout.
  • Youth workers should receive basic training in proper body mechanics due to musculoskeletal changes from physiologic growth and development, and to protect against cumulative effects of exposure to hazards.
  • Youth should be encouraged to request help and/or additional training when taking on a new, unfamiliar task or experiencing difficulty with any specific task.
  • Parents should and employers must provide opportunities for youth to receive safety and health training specific to any job or task they are assigned to,   including but not limited to Job Instruction Training (JIT) and Tailgate Training techniques.
  • Parents with family farm youth workers should reference current safety and health regulations to better understand high risk activities and best safety practices.
  • Parents, employers, and other supervising adults are encouraged to help youth obtain safety training through nationally recognized educational curricula and supporting resources such as those listed in the SAY National Clearinghouse.
  • Parents, employers and other supervising adults should conduct a thorough assessment of weather, environmental, and equipment    conditions prior to assigning work to youth.
  • Parents should and employers must provide youth with appropriate personal protective equipment and training in its use and care as required by state and federal regulations.
  • Hired youth work assignments must be in compliance with state and federal work safety regulations including but not limited to U.S. Department of Labor Hazardous Occupations Orders in Agriculture (Ag HOs); Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) General Industry 1910 and Agriculture 1928 Standards; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Worker Protection Standards (WPS) and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA).

 

SAY National Steering Committee

Jim Armbruster, Senior Relations Manager, National FFA Organization
R. Kirby Barrick, Professor, University of Florida, American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE)
Christy Bartley, Extension Assistant Director of Programs: 4-H Youth Development, Penn State University
Steve Brown, Educational Program Specialist, U.S. Department of Education
Linda Fetzer, SAY Communications Coordinator, Penn State University
William E. Field, Professor and Extension Safety Specialist, Purdue University
Frank Gasperini, President/CEO, Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America
Dee Jepsen, Associate Professor and Extension Safety Specialist, The Ohio State  University
Jill Kilanowski, Associate Dean, Mount Carmel College of Nursing, Columbus, Ohio
Barbara Lee, Director, National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety
Dennis Murphy, Professor Emeritus, Penn State University
Michael Pate, Nationwide Associate Professor of Ag Safety and Health, Penn State University
Susan Reynolds-Porter, Chief Executive Officer, Progressive Agriculture Foundation
Tony Small, Managing Director, The National Council for Agricultural Education
Marty Tatman, Director, Program Development, American Farm Bureau Federation
Larry Teverbaugh, Founder & CEO, CareerSafe Online
Aaron Yoder, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center, NIOSH Ag Centers

 

Reviewed by:
Linda Fetzer, Pennsylvania State University – lmf8@psu.edu
Dave Hill, Pennsylvania State University (Has since retired)
Dennis J. Murphy, Pennsylvania State University (Has since retired)

National Youth Farm and Ranch Safety Symposium

The National Youth Farm and Ranch Safety Symposium, an event funded as one objective of the Safety in Agriculture for Youth (SAY) project, provided an opportunity for interaction and discussion among stakeholder groups, educators, parents, and agricultural employers who provide or seek training opportunities for young workers. The overarching goal of the symposium was to bring together a diverse group of professionals to enhance awareness of, access to, and utilization of farm and ranch safety materials by youth and by adults who instruct or work with youth.

In a concise format, speakers presented a broad range of topics. Their purpose was to initiate constructive dialogue about ideas, resources, gaps, and best practices for safely involving youth on the farm or ranch, regardless of whether the youth are working for family operations or for general hire.

The symposium was held October 27–28, 2014, in Louisville, Kentucky. For a PDF of the symposium program, please click here.

This article identifies the keynote speakers and provides links to video clips from each of the four plenary sessions.

Plenary One: Current Regulations—the Good, the Bad, and the Opportunities

Brad Rein – National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA

Karen Garnett – U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division

Shari Burgus – Farm Safety for Just Kids

*Marilyn Adams – Farm Safety for Just Kids

Barbara Lee – National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety

Dawn Castillo – National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Aida Balsano – National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA

Plenary Two: Youth for Hire—Employment Options in Agriculture

Karen Garnett – U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division

Kristi Boswell – American Farm Bureau Federation

*Marty Tatman – American Farm Bureau Federation

Mike Honeycutt – National Council for Agricultural Education

Sydney Snider – Ohio FFA, State President

Amy Liebman – Migrant Clinicians Network

Frank Gasperini – National Council of Agricultural Employers

David Hard – National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

* Kitty Hendricks – National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Barbara Lee – National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety

Mary Miller – National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Consultant

Plenary Three: When can I?Age versus Competence

David Schwebel – University of Alabama at Birmingham

Barbara Lee – National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety

Mike Honeycutt – National Council for Agricultural Education

Bill Field – Purdue University

Plenary Four: Making the Time to Teach Ag Safety and Health—Formal versus Nonformal (Education and Teaching Resources)

Kirby Barrick – American Association for Agricultural Education

Dennis Riethman – Former Vocational Agriculture Instructor

Lisa Lauxman – National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA

Aaron Yoder – NIOSH Ag Center, Central States

Shari Burgus – Farm Safety for Just Kids

Bernard Geschke – Progressive Agriculture Foundation

Mary Miller – National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Consultant

 

Summarized by:
Kathy Mann, Ohio State University
 
Reviewed by:
Dave Hill, Penn State University – deh27@psu.edu
Dennis Murphy, Penn State University – djm13@psu.edu
Linda Fetzer, Penn State University – lmf8@psu.edu