A Roadmap of Collaboration for Grain Safety Awareness: Building Community Capital for Farmers and First Responders
Loading...
Date
2018-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement
Abstract
This poster will highlight a multi-faceted collaboration between OSU Extension and the Ohio Fire Academy. The Ohio State Ag Safety Program staff and the Ohio Fire Academy instructors work together utilizing this simulator to provide effective training and safety outreach to improve the lives of session participants and ultimately reduce the overall injury and fatality rates on Ohio farms. The collaboration facilitates student growth and learning, bridges efforts of state entities, cultivates partnerships with stakeholders, and delivers interactive outreach education for impactful outcomes across a broad spectrum of rural agricultural audiences by highlighting the design, build and development of outreach education.
Description
In recent years, there has been a rise in agriculture of on-farm grain storage, and both increased size and number of bins have changed the safety landscape. The United States-reported cases of grain entrapment and organic dust toxic syndrome increase points to the need for safety education for farmers. Additionally, entrapment increases highlight a gap in first responder training specific to this need. Solely addressing the farmer education component through Extension will impact the need of rescue, but this alone will not entirely eliminate incidences of grain entrapment and engulfment. Building the agricultural operations knowledge base and technical skills of first responders with a new sustainable programming model became a vital approach in elevating the knowledge base to lead to successful rescue outcomes when first responders are dispatched. Ohio has 74,900 farms, comprising approximately 14 million acres of cropland. The agriculture sector is a critical component to Ohio's economy as the number one industry, contributing more than $94 billion to the state's economy. Work injury can significantly impact productivity and financial viability on those farms. Aiming to support solving societal challenges and keeping farmers safe guides outreach education for the Extension Agricultural Safety and Health Program as the health and vitality of the American farmer can have far-reaching community, state, and national impacts. This poster will highlight a multi-faceted collaboration weaving awareness, integration, stewardship, accountability and advocacy into one project resulting in student growth and learning, stakeholder partnerships, and impactful interactive outreach education. Viewers who are looking for innovative ways to partner in outreach engagement can use this project as a roadmap. The state safety leader and Extension faculty with assistance of agricultural students enrolled in an engineering design course built a training simulator to address safety in an innovative way. Using a service-learning approach, the Grain Comprehensive Agricultural Rescue Trailer was constructed on a flatbed semi-trailer with replica grain facility equipment. It travels the state allowing innovative access to Extension, delivering outreach education and technical rescue courses via a classroom on wheels. This combination of Extension, academic student teams and state fire instructors have positively piqued the interest and training capacity in rural communities with issue-based programming. The adapted program delivery method strengthens partnerships and serves as a model to be replicated. The Grain C.A.R.T. has reached a rural audience of 10,000+ in the almost four years it has been utilized for outreach education, trained 2,797 first responders, and has served as a catalyst in fostering further project development.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: S.D. Jepsen, Associate Professor, Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and State Leader, The Ohio State University Extension Agricultural Safety and Health Program, jepsen.4@osu.edu (Corresponding Author); Lisa Pfeifer, Educational Program Manager, Agricultural Rescue, Agrability and Emergency Management, The Ohio State University Extension Agricultural Safety and Health Program; Jeff Hussey, State Fire Marshal, Ohio Fire Academy, Ohio Department of Commerce.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: S.D. Jepsen, Associate Professor, Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and State Leader, The Ohio State University Extension Agricultural Safety and Health Program, jepsen.4@osu.edu (Corresponding Author); Lisa Pfeifer, Educational Program Manager, Agricultural Rescue, Agrability and Emergency Management, The Ohio State University Extension Agricultural Safety and Health Program; Jeff Hussey, State Fire Marshal, Ohio Fire Academy, Ohio Department of Commerce.
Keywords
interactive safety education, collaboration, community capital
Citation
Engaged Scholars, v. 6 (2018).