How does 10 days in Hawaii sound in January 2012? I say NOTHING sounds better! In fact I would have loved to have been in Hawaii this past January. Actually I would have just settled for somewhere warmer with less snow! I can be easy to please sometimes! Anyhow…the Carroll County Farm Bureau along with our other neighboring Farm Bureaus are sponsoring a trip to Hawaii in January 2012 with Tri-StateTravel. We will be having a trip preview meeting on Tuesday, March 1 at 6:30 p.m.

Last week I went to the OSHA seminar down at Sauk Valley Community College. It was very nice to see 70+ people in attendance. While the seminar covered various topics in regards to grain handling facilities, the speaker (who I found did a great job and kept me interested) started out with a great point that we all need to remember in our day to day lives.

Before I get to this point, I have to say listening to the speaker, Jeff Clark, made me feel like I finally figured out what I want to do when I grow up; become a safety trainer. I am anal and I will argue rules to the death! I am a firm believer in rules. Now do I follow them all the time, honestly no, and those that I break I guess that depends on what they are. But I am passionate about them. There is one thing that I hate that has to do with rules and that is drama. Once a rule is broken for someone, everyone else will expect it to be broken, which then leads to drama!!

As I said, I become a Nazi over rules. In fact when Tucker was younger, I was the car seat Nazi. I still cringe when I see parents not using car seats. Anyhow….to get to my point about rules, each day we are all teachers and educators. Do you agree or disagree with that statement? Well here is why you have to agree. The speaker told a true story of a grandpa and a granddaughter who were using Rustoelum to paint an old patio set. The grandpa washed his hands off with gas when he was done to get the paint off (which may of us know of others who have done this) and then washed his hands off with soap. The granddaughter saw grandpa do it and repeated the first step. When she went into wash her hands, he was at the sink and she was too close to the gas water heater. Unfortunately she died from burns, but not immediately. According to the story, she asked, “Why me? I just did the same thing grandpa did?” We have to remember that any time we do something it is seen as okay in the eyes of those around us, unless it does go bad and we get hurt.

With accidents, none of us are exempt. Accidents can occur so quickly. The speaker also made a valid point. “If we don’t get hurt doing something, does that mean it is safe?” In our minds we think that. It is a culture thing we need to revisit. While my standing on a ladder in the back of the building sweeping snow off the roof caused me no harm, was it safe? Probably not. As we move into spring and planting season we need to remember to think before we do things. Who is seeing us do this? Is it safe?

Ag Safety Awareness Week is coming up March 6-12, so you can expect from me more safety bits and pieces.