Skid Steer Safety Training Programs for Dairy Farm Employees

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recently initiated a program to insure the safety of dairy farm workers with a focus on operations with 11 or more employees. Included in this effort are the unannounced safety inspections of a limited number of dairy farms on an annual basis. This has resulted in the need for formal safety training in various work-related areas. Several of the county’s larger farms have requested that UW-Extension provide skid steer operation safety training to their employees. Skid steers are a common but dangerous machine found on most dairy farms. In the past year, about 75 employees from three different farms have participated in the on-farm training program. Over half of the employees who completed the training program were Hispanic. Hence, the program requires that the training and materials be presented in both English and Spanish. An interpreter was utilized at each of the three training sites. The program consists of classroom training with a PowerPoint presentation or video, a skid steer pre-operation walk-around, and an operational skills test. Post training surveys yielded very positive feedback regarding the training experience.Skid steer safety training

Support Extension