New videos explore what motivates agriculture workers to make safe choices. One reason, beyond rules and regulations, is having family who rely on you.
Photo credit: AgSafe (used with permission)
Reg Steward has had many opportunities to learn about what motivates people to work safely. For the past 18 years, he’s worked with AgSafe, the health and safety association for B.C.’s agriculture sector. Reg is currently AgSafe’s provincial ranching safety consultant and superintendent of field operations. Recently, he helped create a five-part video series called “What’s Your Why?”
The two short videos available online so far really pack an emotional punch (watch them below). Their purpose is to show farmers that there are other reasons to work safely than doing so just because it’s the rules.
“The message is: This isn’t just the regulated thing to do, it’s the right thing to do,” says Reg. “Farmers should say to themselves, ‘I’ve got people who count on me and they matter to me.’ That’s more important than some rule saying they have to do this.”
Reg wanted the videos to show the uniqueness of farming life. Agriculture is the only industry in which “workplaces” are also often where the workers and their families live, and where it’s common to see children playing near heavy equipment and large animals.
What’s your why, for working safely? Please share in the comments below! This is my last post of the year, so I’ll wish you happy holidays, and thank you for reading. See you in 2019.
