Over the past few years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been focusing a lot of attention on dairy farms in New York and Wisconsin because they wanted to talk with them about safety on the farm.
Those conversations are the reason OSHA put together a list of their top 12 safety concerns on the farm, which is called the “Dairy Dozen” list.
- Manure storage and collection facilities.
- Dairy bull and cow movement and worker position.
- Electrical systems.
- Skid steer loader operation.
- Tractor operation.
- Power take-offs.
- Other power transmission and functional components.
- Hazardous energy while servicing and maintaining equipment.
- On-farm chemicals.
- Confined spaces.
- Horizontal bunker silos.
- Noise.
Lastly, one of the most common violations OSHA sees by farmers is the failure to have a guard on the PTO shaft.
OSHA doesn’t have permission to inspect all dairy farms, but for the most part, your farm may be at risk of an inspection if you have more than 10 non-family members working.
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