Grain bin safety week great reminder for overall farm safety

This week has been designated as “Stand Up 4 Grain Safety Week” by Nebraska’s corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum checkoffs and their respective associations.
    Their goal is to raise the awareness among farmers and agricultural workers of the need for safety when working in and around grain bins.
    It’s also a good time to think about overall safety when working around the farm.
    Grain bins have their own inherent hazards and dangers such as engulfments and entanglements.
    But as you, our farmer friends, take to the fields with spring farm work, we urge you to remember the importance of farm safety and how one little mistake or oversight can change your life or the lives of others.  
    It can happen in the fraction of a second. One wrong move across a power take-off shaft or a grain auger. Failure to stop at a stop sign. Getting in too big of a hurry.  
    I often think of my dad and how just one little seemingly harmless shortcut cost him his leg at the age of 75. Life was never quite the for a man who loved the soil, the livestock and life on the farm.
    That event alone still serves as a stark realization of just how dangerous farming can be, despite a lifetime of experience.
    As we head into another farming season, we urge our farmer friends to take the time to reflect on just how vital following strong safety practices is to their livelihoods.
    That same advice applies to us city folks as we rev up the roto-tiller and lawn mowers this spring and summer. Shortcuts just don’t pay.  
    Take time to practice common sense safety procedures—for your own safety AND the safety of others!