Keeping visitors safe on your farm: 5th tips from farm safety experts

Yearly, more and more farm owners welcome eager and curious visitors to their farms. The nation's agritourism industry has grown significantly in recent years, primarily in response to consumer concerns about how and where their food is created. Millions of farm tourists visit thousands of farms each year to grow their produce, learn more about agriculture, enjoy hayrides through pumpkin patches, and much more. Frequent visitors include young children and older adults with little or no farm experience. What this means for you, the farm owner and agritourism operator is that you need to consider a wide range of potential health and safety issues for guests of all ages. To ensure visitors leave your farm with new knowledge about food production and plenty of fresh produce, farm safety experts have stepped in to offer some simple safety guidelines for your agritourism operation.

Post lots of signs: Effective signs are simple and brief and often include self-explanatory pictograms that young children can easily understand. Replace worn-out signs, and don't let weeds hide these important safety messages. It is also recommended that farms post "In Case of Emergency" signs with the farm's emergency contact, phone number, and physical address in case emergency services need to locate the farm quickly.

Store your tools and machinery: Some farms may display machinery, vehicles, and other tools for visitors to admire. While this can be educational and exciting for many visitors, it also presents a very tempting safety risk, especially for children. Even if vehicles or machinery are turned off or parked, they can still present various hazards, including falls, trips, and crushes. If children and other guests can climb up and explore the equipment, it is recommended that an employee familiar with the equipment be supervised.

Designate Parking Areas and Control Traffic Flow: Identify parking areas with highly visible signage approximately half a mile before visitors arrive on the farm. This will help prevent motorists from illegally parking on roadways or in places that inhibit traffic flow around the farm. Direct visitor traffic away from roads most frequently used by farm vehicles and large machinery, as many motorists and pedestrians may need to learn how to yield to farm vehicles safely. Slow movement.

Fill Potholes and Mark Sidewalks for Pedestrians: Do your best to prevent slips, trips, and falls by ensuring that all areas where visitors will be walking are mostly level, clear of obstructions, and free of potholes. Walkways should easily funnel visitors from one attraction to the next through clearly marked path signage. Any stairs in these hallways must have well-constructed handrails.

Be aware of "attractive nuisances": An attractive nuisance is a "place or object on the farm that unintentionally attracts children" and presents a significant safety hazard. For example, open ponds, stacked hay bales, farm equipment, and unsecured ladders are considered attractive nuisances. If you haven't already, look at your farm from a child's point of view and do your best to secure all the potentially attractive nuisances as they are accidents waiting to happen.

For more information on designing an agritourism operation that has carefully considered all aspects of visitor health and safety, visit the Marshfield Clinic website at: www.marshfieldresearch.org/nccrahs/agritourism. Here you will find farm safety checklists and manuals created by researchers and farm safety experts.