Environmental Hazards in Farming

Posted by peter amin2 on June 20th, 2021

All work environments have a number of environmental hazards, and farms and agricultural businesses probably have more than most. this is in large part thanks to the nature of the business, where a farm will usually incorporate a lot of land, numerous outbuildings and a a combination of people, animals and machinery.

Environmental hazards normally refer to risks associated with things such as chemicals, costs, mould, welding raise, noise,, cold and excessive moisture. Each of the and are worth looking at in detail to see how they manifest themselves, and how they can be dealt with.

Dust

Dust is found everywhere in life, but in terms of environmental hazard has a special risk on a farm. Dust is very dry, and has a low temperature at which it can kindle this means that it is potentially quite risky in terms of fuelling a fire, and has the potential to burn in an explosive manner, much like the effect of pouring gasoline onto an existing fire.

Keeping an is virtually impossible job, short of continual 24 seven cleaning, which is impractical in most businesses. What can be done effectively is to make sure there is a significant buildup of dust, especially in areas that are near a potential fire. It is the buildup of dust that is potentially a real fire hazard.

There have been many anecdotal examples of dust explosions that have occurred in feed mills and grain storage elevators. Enquiries have found that the explosions tend to occur because there has been a buildup of dust that has been invited by some type of electrical spark, otherwise would probably not have caused much of a problem.

One of the main sources of sparks near buildup of dusts come from welding, which is a practice much used in different types of agricultural businesses.

Welding

Welding can initiate and be responsible for a number of potential environmental hazards. These are normally caused by defective welding helmets, cracked welding lenses and torn welding curtains. These potential risks can cause damage to any individual who is using them, especially risks to someone's eyesight or general health.

Excessive moisture and slippery floors

The risks of the slippery floors and of liquids have been spilt or not cleaned up properly and are fairly obvious, but happen very frequently, and a very high risk in terms of environmental hazards.

Slippages on floors can normally because by water, oil and other liquid substances. These may have leaked from a container, being knocked over by someone or simply occurred through some other means. In any event, the slippages can pose a real danger, and should be cleaned up as soon as they are noticed.

It is good practice to use a floor drying compound, or to put hand over the area once it has been cleaned. It also could practice to put up a warning sign, quite often a yellow triangular piece of plastic, that warns anyone else of the potential risk. the sign should be kept in place until the floor or specific area is dry and completely safe.

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peter amin2

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peter amin2
Joined: May 6th, 2020
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