Environmental Hazards in Farming

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 hazards raises their own potential problems, 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 anenvironment free of dust 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 bydefective 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 ayellow 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.

Anyone looking to buy a snowblower will pretty much soon realise that the choice tends to come down between what are referred to as one stage or two stage snow blowers. There are a few manufacturers who also make what are known as three stage snow blowers, and these will be looked in into and referred to at the end of the article.

There are also some manufacturers who make small or compact tractors which can be turned into snowblowers with a number of snow blade attachments, but the majority of snowblowers referred to are stand alone machines.

The way any snow blower works is in essence fairly simple. They draw in or suck in snow at the front of the machine, and then discharge it through what is known as a chute, through the top of the machine in a direction away from the ground with the smow is being cleared from.

This process is at the heart of a distinction between a one stage and two-stage snowblower. A one stage snowblowe, will simply draw the smow in as described above, and discharge it. A two-stage snowblower will have an additional element, which is normally thought of as something like an impeller, which is used to break up hard chunks of snow or ice once they have been drawn into the machine, and before it is discharged as more malleable pieces of snow.

Ther was mention earlier of a three stage snowblower. These were very common a few years ago, and there are still a few manufactured, and plenty of older models available. The main element of a three stage snowblower is that it contains an additional auger, situated above the main one, which assists in the breakup of hard chunks of snow or ice, before it is dispersed through the discharge chute.

This distinction goes to the heart of what a snowblower does, and it's really important when deciding what type of snow blower to buy, as it needs to be understood what type of snow it is going to be used for, and what type of ground it is going to be used on.

Both types of snowblower can be used for any type of land or yard or smallholding, depending upon the distinction just mentioned regarding the type of snow and the type of ground.

Single stage snow blowers are normally used on land where the snow is fairly thin and flaky, often described as up to 8 or 9 inches thick, and where the ground underneath it is fairly soft.

Two-stage snowblowers are much more commonly used where the snow is much thicker, normally much harder and possibly very icy in certain places. They are also used where the ground underneath is likely to be harder, possibly gravel or tarmac.

The other consideration with any single stage or two-stage snow blower is whether to use normal tires, or to use a snow blower that has some type of track, similar to that on a tank, which can provide much greater stability. This is really an issue about what type of land the snowblower is going to be used on, and what will give the best type of traction both for the snowblower and the operator using it.

Peter Main is a freelance writer who writes extensively about tractors and snowblowers, with a particular focus on manufacturers such as MTD Snowblowers, and Honda Snowblowers