Occupational Health and Enviromental Health

1. Farm Risks and Hazards
Email: otienomdc@gmail.com
Emmanuel D Otieno BSc PH,MPH
Bugema University

2. Hazards is anything that can cause accidents (injury/illness to
people, or damage to property).
Risk means a combination of the severity and likelihood of harm
arising from a hazard.
Transport - being struck by a moving vehicle
Struck by moving or falling objects
Falls from height, slips, trips
Asphyxiation or drowning
Injury by an animal
Risks and Hazards

3. What makes agriculture
work dangerous?
 Environment
 Personal factors
 Work activities
 Social, economic and political factors

4. Who is at risk of injury?
 Workers
 Visitors at farm
 Service workers
 Farm animals

5. What are the dangers?
 Machinery and
implements
 Livestock
 Electricity
 Chemicals
 Fires
 Ponds and open
water bodies
 Material storage
facilities
 Manure pits

6. Livestock Hazards
 Crushing injuries
 Diseases
 Parasites

7. Chemical Hazards
 Pesticides/herbicides
 Fertilizers
 Animal medicines

8. Fire Hazards
 Fueling and fuel storage
 Electrical problems
 Machinery
 Dry, dusty confinement areas
 Hay storage

9. Material Storage Hazards
 Suffocation
 Falls from elevated surfaces
 Contact with conveyance machinery

10. Ponds and Open Water Hazards
 Never swim in an
irrigation canal or
unfamiliar pond
 Post no-swimming signs
 Install a safety post with
rope and flotation device
at the edge of ponds

11. Try to eliminate risks. If risks cannot be completely
eliminated, try to minimise them
Follow safe work procedures
Use appropriate equipment, including personal protective
equipment (PPE).
Never do a job you are not competent to do!
RISK ASSESSMENT!
Preventive measures
Engineering controls and safe systems of work must
always be considered first
Provide and ensure the use of PPE as a last resort
PPE has to be suitable for the work and conditions, and
must give adequate protection

12. End