Farm, Feed Lot & Feed Mill Safety: More Than Animal Handling & Moving Trailers

Working at Farms, feed lots, and feed mills. They are absolutely an "if you know you know" type work place, which can create some risks if that person becomes a new hire!  In this episode, Joe and Jen skip right over some of the more "traditional" Hazards and move right to things that make you go "huh."🤔    This was a fun one to make- we hope you guys enjoy it!  Full episode summary below:
  
Key Points:
1. Biosecurity & Industrial Hygiene
Farm safety starts before driving onto the property—biosecurity measures require washing vehicles, showering in/showering out, wearing designated clothing, and sanitizing tools.

2. Safety Challenges in Farming Environments
Hot Work (e.g., welding, grinding) is unique on farms due to open spaces, uncontrollable factors like ventilation, and farm managers (rather than safety officers) issuing permits.
Training is often unrealistic—safety training (e.g., first aid/CPR) is typically taught in an office setting but must be applied in unpredictable farm conditions (e.g., near animals, in extreme weather, in remote locations).
Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) issues—farms have stored energy hazards (e.g., augers retaining power), which may not be adequately addressed through standard LOTO procedures.
3. Equipment-Specific Hazards
Leaf blowers pose a unique risk—they can catch long hair or loose clothing, an overlooked danger due to differences in PPE use on farms versus industrial sites.
Tractors and equipment can vary significantly—workers may have to operate multiple brands and models, requiring flexible and adaptable training.
Outdoor work adds risks—workers may be alone, exposed to extreme weather, or using outdated PPE/equipment.
4. Routine Tasks Can Be High-Risk
Pest control, handling chemicals, and general hygiene practices pose hidden risks—workers may unintentionally contaminate themselves (e.g., scratching their nose while wearing contaminated gloves).
People that have been at the faciality for many years may be accustomed to certain risks—they may develop unsafe habits over time due to familiarity with their tasks and environment. 
5. Emergency Preparedness & Response
Fires, tornadoes, and medical emergencies require special planning since farms are often rural and lack immediate emergency response access.
During emergencies, animals must also be managed—creating additional logistical and safety concerns.
Returning to normal operations post-emergency is often overlooked—many farm safety plans lack a structured approach for resuming work safely.
6. Housekeeping & Sanitation Differences
Housekeeping expectations vary by farm type—some areas (e.g., mills) must be cobweb-free, while feedlots prioritize biosecurity.
Inspection routines should be tailored to each location—ensuring electrical panels, PPE, and equipment cleanliness meet site-specific safety standards.
Contractors & maintenance personnel need clear guidance—a well-planned inspection and task list can prevent biosecurity risks when bringing in external workers.
7. The Need for Better Training & Documentation
Farm safety programs should be location-specific, as no two farms operate the same way.  The training should be accessible at the farm- and not just at the main office. 

For more information, they direct listeners to AllenSafetyCoaching.com or Allen-Safety.com websites for training, evaluations, and audits tailored to farm safety.

This video is intended for educational purposes.  Solutions offered are not designed to take the place of an attorney or medical professional, and should not be taken as legal or medical advice.  It is recommended that viewers consult a safety consultant, medical provider or an occupational safety legal team as applicable to help navigate their specific circumstances.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Welcome back everybody.
This week is farm safety,feedlot safety, all of the above
.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I don't know why he's wearing that.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
That's not what anyone wears, but you look nice,
it's great.
I think you just wanted to wearyour new outfit.
I did.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
All right, welcome back.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Welcome back to.
I don't Know what this Is.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
We go to hog farms.
People don't know.
Don't wear that I can tell youthat.
And what about feedlots?

Speaker 1 (00:32):
We're also doing an episode or not an episode, but
we're going to do a compilationof things I wish I knew, and
this is one of those things thatI wish I knew we're going into
safety.
I wish I knew I was going tohave to shower in, shower out
and wear other and not dresslike this.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
I was thinking I'm doing a farm today, I'm going to
look good.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, I don't think you ever thought that.
No one's ever worn that at aranch.
But I didn't know I was goingto have to wear this television
shows about it.
That's why they don't.
Yeah, they don't wear thateither.
All other people's clothing?
I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
It doesn't look like that.
So the first one is farm safety.
Is industrial hygiene, training, cleaning any of the stuff you
got to do the first 20 feet inthere?
So that's things people don'tthink about.
Yeah, so for biosecurity is theword there's a certain set of
things that have to happenbefore people and items walk in

(01:28):
and, as you do, that peoplearen't thinking about, because
of the timing of the biosecurity, how hard it is to do normal
tasks.
So from a safety managerstandpoint, it's not just, oh,
go, get a tool or do this task,there could be 15 other steps.
You have to do a part of it.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, this task.
There could be 15 other steps.
You have to do a part of it.
Yeah, including like can thestuff we use to clean whatever
item we're bringing in thatgonna adversely affect the item?
That's correct some stuffleaves a residue, so we've got
to clean stuff.
We kind of put, put them inlike a fogging chamber at some
locations and is it going tomake everything sticky?
how is it?
Ppe?
Is that going to make it weird?

(02:03):
What do we have?
Ppe?
Is that going to make it weird?
What do we have to like?
Wash it off again when it getson the other side.
What are we doing with it?

Speaker 2 (02:08):
That's correct.
One of the things we looked atis that you'll do normal tasks,
so maybe it's going to do hotwork today.
Well, hot work in a farm,different than hot work
everywhere else, because it'sthe amount of people you have,
the knowledge you have.
You can't.
You can't on the permit.
Because there's the one sign inthe permit, right you can't, on
the permit, close all holes youknow and cover all hole

(02:29):
openings.
Really, there's thousands ofthem.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
So you got to look at the process a little bit when
it comes to the farm safety side.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
It's not just hot work.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, so some different steps.
Are you putting down blankets?
What are we doing?
Because again, there's slats inthe floor?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
equipment you're going to use and the training is
going to be different.
You go to most manufacturingbut have a small set of people
that could do maintenance tasksor and there's a certain set of
people who are signing off whereyou go to the farm side.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
It could be or any of those.
It's that manager that managerand they are kind of having to
be cleaning up all thingsbecause they're having to sign
all permits because there is.
They are kind of having to becleaning up all things because
they're having to sign permitsbecause there is.
They are the manager there thatdoes all absolutely so.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
That's a couple of things people don't think about.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Same thing goes really if you think about it,
for feed meals too, I'mabsolutely feed mill managers
having to sign off on all thisstuff and it's like and this
kind of goes back to trends of2024, we give them the support
and the training to really beable to sign off on those
documents.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Leaf blower.
That is one that people don'tthink of.
That I kind of Agree.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
I'm not sure where you're headed on this A leaf
blower.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
a lot of people have them.
They have a motor and they wearthem as backpacks as they go to
the farms and that motorguarding on it, but the
guarding's not enough.
If you wear your hair likeyours, you don't watch it and
you get people pieces that arehanging down.
It can get caught in the leafblowers.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
That sounds awful.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Because of where your body position is.
Those are things.
So we'll have a job task andwe'll say go do this task.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
They're not wearing a hard hat in a lot of those
places and they won't be like oh, you need to have your hair up
at this moment.
Well, yeah, I mean when I, whenI just got done washing my hair
, it doesn't look like this.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Well, you did because you just took a shower coming
to the farm.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Word in my hair is down.
That's correct ponytail.
I usually don't put it up.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
So that's a risk you wouldn't have in a normal place.
Normal place, we'd have hairnets, we'd have place.
We'd have hairnets, we'd havehard hats, we'd have certain job
tasks like that.
We don't wear ties on a lot ofthe plants for the same reason.
So cause you don't want to getcaught in anything.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
I've never seen anyone wear a tie in a plant.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
They wear a nice outfit like this, all right.
So the next one is, I think,this is a like wishful thinking.
Yeah, it is.

(04:51):
You just want to bring thatvibe back.
Another one about the farmsafety is um, are we going to
train on what we're really goingto do like?
Here's my best example eprfirst aid.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, we train in the offices of it to be amazing and
clean and perfect, not usuallyeven at the farm, we do it at
the office right.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
So the mill, the l and m area outside land
management area, you've got thefarm itself.
You got to feel none of theconditions are what you were
trained on.
You're unloading animals in andout of trailers next.
No, yeah, that's not.
That's not first day CPR.
You got to have 17 or 25 or 50animals around you and you go

(05:19):
down.
You're at my old plant.
Not a person that had a medicalevent, we had cattle, store
cattle everywhere.
Yeah, we used to have tomedically treat that person with
all the cows around.
What are you going to?

Speaker 1 (05:29):
do so.
Now you're bringing in otherpeople to help support moving
the animals out of that area,whether it's poultry, hogs, so
it's the training of that.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
How are we going to really do it?

Speaker 1 (05:40):
To create space.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Right.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
To treat the person.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
It's not animal movement, as in people get
caught in.
How are we going to move it?
It's how we're going to managethat event for that person.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's scene.
Stabilization is what it reallyis.
And I have to move the animalsto stabilize the scene.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
That's correct.
So the training part is what Iwant you to think about.
I want you to think about weget caught up, we train you know
, item one yeah, and item one isdo all that like lockout.
Maybe we say, for lockout,we're going to check for
residual energy.
That's great.
In a farm where you have anauger, you can have different
energy sources even after lockedout.

(06:15):
Oh, absolutely, Because you'vealready checked it and there's
no power.
But there is power.
The reason the auger is notworking is the store power.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, it's the stored energy factor, right, so we'll
follow lockout and still have aweird injury like that.
Yeah, Cause we don't understandand again this goes back to
some of the trends we saw in2020 is that we haven't
documented some of those thingstake place and that we have to
release that stored energyenergy because it's not
electrical driven, it's other,you know and so we we haven't

(06:44):
captured some of those things,we haven't passed on some of
that in our training documents,whatever it may be.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
I have an outside equipment.
We talked about that in anotherepisode but yes, you have a lot
of outside work here byyourself.
So you kind of have a loanprotocol and you have an outside
protocol a little bit and thenyou're wearing different PPE.
Now you have the weatherconditions.
You have a lot of factors goingon that people are working
outside towards the end of theday, that other people aren't
being involved with, and anormal job at a normal plant,

(07:10):
you wouldn't think about it.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Well, and I think, in addition to that, you also
typically aren't fortunateenough to maybe have all the
same equipment at every location, same manufacturer, same-.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
You could have seven different tractors easily.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
And they're all a little different, so you have to
now make sure your pre-checkscapture all of that.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
That's correct.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Because each one has its different and the training
has to capture all of that.
That's correct.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Another one is the routine tasks.
But are there really?
So, for example, I'm going towalk through today and I'm going
to wear gloves because I'mgoing to handle bait for animals
like rats or mice or something.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Okay, okay.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Pest control.
So I go carrying this all theway out there, but I sweat,
sometimes my nose itches and I'mnot always changing my gloves
after I'm doing that taskbecause I'm so far out there.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
I'm just trying to get it done well, you could take
that, the, the what's on yourhands there you go and just
multiply that across things likelime when we have to depopulate
that's correct you do it across.
You know any of our ai stuffthat's great we are.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Or touching the animals themselves oh, you put.
You put your hand out to theright, you touch something you
don't realize by the way, forfrom the outside, ai means
something different yeaheverybody else but.
But the point of it is is thatit's, it's, it's a routine task,
but it's.
But you don't think about hownobody would do that, but
somebody else would change theirgloves multiple times, like in
a doctor's office but on a farm,because of the travel distance

(08:35):
you are.
You just don't think about itwell.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
In addition to that, you also need to evaluate how
comfortable folks are, so so wesee some of the least amount of
turnover in the farms becausethey're in smaller communities.
That's the main employer forthe location and so they're just
not having all kinds of.
So people become very, veryused to.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Even if they own their own farm, at their house,
they do the same thing.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
The number of times I've seen people do something
where they're touching somethingthat's not really sanitary and
then put their hand or theirglove or like a pencil in their
mouth.
I'm thinking like you know,needle caps and stuff like that,
pencils from writing differentstuff down when we're doing
different tasks on the farm.

(09:20):
Then you want to go and you'relike well, why are like, tell
you why?
So uh, another about what?

Speaker 2 (09:26):
you're putting your hands another non-routine, but
it is routine because people get.
The news is, whenever they havean outbreak, yeah, and they
have animals, and you'll see allover the news that somebody had
to take the animals and dosomething with them or
depopulate it.
Well, that process change overhistory, how we're going to do
that PPE-wise and how we storeit and what's the chemicals.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
What the process is itself.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
That's correct.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Which no one ever really wants to discuss that.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
But it is something that we have.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
And so we have to have that process, and then
we've got vets involved, andthen we've got to train people
on it, and sometimes thingsdon't always go to plan, so it
doesn't work the way we thought.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
So you've got to have a plan for that.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
So we've got to figure out what we're going to
do, in case we've got to do aplan B on some of this
depopulation.
And then again, what PPE are wehaving?
Is it one person, two person?
How many people are involved?
Now we're moving from point Ato point B and out of the
facility and somewhere else, andwhat that looks like it's a lot

(10:26):
of steps, and then everythingemergency related.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
For example.
I've got a fire at the locationA rule a lot of times.
What are we going to do or not?
We're going to take care of theanimals that are still alive.
You're going to have a tornadowhy don't you know?
There's these events thathappen in a normal setting.
But when you have this farmwhether it be a personal farm or
a company farm, whatever it isyou still have to deal with the

(10:52):
level of risk that's differentin that environment.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, well, and I think part of it is managing
things and situation during theemergency.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Then what's the plan if we have structural damage,
things and situation during theemergency Correct, then what's
the plan if we have structuraldamage or some issues and how
are we going to navigate that?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Because we've been involved with a lot of those
kinds of events and I tell youit is interesting.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
What are we doing with animals when we've got an
immediate risk to them as wellas ourselves.
That's correct, potentially.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
What are we not going to do?

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, yeah, exactly Where's the line and that's the
thing that I don't see in anyEAPs generally when I go and
look at farm EAPs is that wedon't have a great return to
normal operations plan.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
And then my very last one is the most interesting is
housekeeping, because that wordis so general.
Well, housekeeping forsanitation plant means something
completely different.
Some places, like a mill, theydon't want a lot of cobwebs.
You may have the cobwebs at thefarm, but you got to watch
where the cobwebs are becausethey can still be around
equipment, they can get hot orthey can be around or other

(11:55):
products.
Housekeeping moves and out soyou can have a program as a
company and call that program,but you got to really tailor to
what you call it for thatparticular area, because there's
certain things you can andcan't do.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Well, do you think what?
What housekeeping really weneed to keep in mind is, again,
you know we have biosecurity atplay and we're having to have
people shower and shower up,sanitize tools, sanitize
anything that's coming in.
We've got to really beintentional about our
inspections that we're catchingall that stuff so that anytime
we do have someone frommaintenance come in or a

(12:29):
contractor come in to do fixes,we're getting everything taken
care of.
I mean like getting theelectrical let's not have open
electrical and no blanks missingand of I mean like getting the
electrical, that's correct.
Let's not have open electricaland blanks missing and stuff.
I mean we've really got to bedetailed in those inspections so
that when people show up we'reready to go.
Here's your list.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
So I think you've got inspection.
Yeah, you got some planning andyou got some.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
How many days should they really be here?
Maybe it's not just two hourson a Thursday afternoon, that's
correct.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
And the other part I think you're talking about as
part of the solutions is kind ofanother episode we talked about
.
You've got to have thatprocedure and training for that
location's job task.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
It's got to be that one.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
It is not job tasks for farms, because farms all
have different things going on.
They're not all the same.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
They're all set up differently, even just the
tractor itself.
We've been to some great placesthat had five different
training programs because theyhad to.
We want that risk to bemitigated and brought down with
the farms, and the reason webring this up to everybody is
years ago we heard a lot aboutthe animal movement was a lot of
risk, but the people that areinvolved there's other things

(13:39):
that happen besides moving theanimal.
That's what we want to do.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
we want you to think about these other things was so
much it's kind of like the, theppe and the plants, like there
was so much focus on the wordanimal movement correct we've
got real strong procedures atmost facilities around training
and how to do that in the animalwelfare side.
Absolutely, I think that thatthat is and that's, that's farms

(14:02):
, plants, mills, feel everywherewe go like that has been
addressed quite well, I feel,and I'm not seeing a lot of gaps
in that.
It's all the support functionsdoing that, that aren't that
everything.
But that, basically, is wherewe now need to start evaluating
it and open up the scope ofwhat's being evaluated during

(14:23):
our inspections.
Absolutely, you know, some ofthese exterior outlying rooms
include those.
You know things like thatabsolutely.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
That's what we got today all right.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Well, if you want more information on this, you
can hop on over to alan atsafetycoachingcom.
That's a great resource.
Otherwise, we do lots of agside stuff so farms, feedlots,
feed mills or poultry, hogs,cattle.
So if you want us to do somein-person stuff, then give us a
shout and you can go toalan-safetycom for that or all

(14:54):
of our list of in-personservices, whether it be audits,
evaluations, training.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
These are all of our opinions.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Training procedures.
And then, yeah, as Jimmentioned, these are all our
opinions.
Take them for how you want.
Make sure you're doing athorough risk evaluation.
It's not that everythingapplies to every location, so
we're just trying to give yousome quick food for thought over
a bite-sized 10-minute episode.
Here.
There's inevitably going to besome things we missed.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Feel free to drop them in the comments.
We would love to hear from youand otherwise, take care
everybody.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Have a safe week.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Thank you.