Preparing for Emergencies on the Farm

Source: Brownfield Ag News

An insurance consultant says farmers need to be prepared for potential emergencies on their operations. Ben Peetz with the FCCI Insurance Group says a key element to preparing farms for emergencies is having a good working relationship with first responders. And that starts by showing them your farm operation.

“That they are well educated on what your risk is, what your facility is and how it operates so that they are prepared to make an efficient and effective response. There’s nothing worse than trying to roll up on a scene, learn everything you can about a scene in 30 seconds to a minute, vs knowing ahead of time when you leave the station what you’re going to see and get into,” says Peetz.

He tells Brownfield too often emergency preparedness is reactive. Peetz, who’s also a firefighter, recommends a proactive approach.

“One of the things I always advocate is to sit down and look at each individual operation and think about what can go wrong at your own facility, what do you expect to happen, and what are you going to do to try to eliminate that risk in the long run,” says Peetz.

Peetz says many land grant universities have resources that can help farmers plan for emergencies, but local resources like fire departments, EMS and law enforcement are best when identifying key areas of specific farm operations.

Brownfield spoke with Peetz at the Ohio AgriBusiness Association annual conference in Dublin Ohio. Click here to hear the interview.