The top is optional

Sitting down to write my article for this month, I have a quiet house. Emily is at parent-teacher conferences for our daughter, Hannah; Jonnie is at the National FFA Convention; and Erik has moved to Vermont to learn the commercial fencing trade and be closer to his girlfriend’s college.

Writing on my laptop while sitting on the couch in sweatpants, enjoying a warm drink, is nice. Usually, I write on the computer in our office and get distracted by bills I need to pay and invoices that should be entered into QuickBooks. Then, there is also a magazine or two in the stack of papers that need recycling but should be browsed quickly before tossing. I say it takes me a couple of hours to write an article, but really, like most jobs, little side quests add a good 50% to that time.

I could say I got right to writing and stayed focused on my task, but I saw our Accidents in North American Climbing book on the coffee table and had to read that for a bit while I waited for my laptop to wake up. Then, I had to wake it up again because it went back to sleep mode while I was reading.

Our family has a membership in the American Alpine Club because we enjoy rock and mountain climbing, and the organization provides a number of benefits, from rescue coverage if an accident were to happen while out recreating to lobbying at the federal level to keep wild places open to exploring. In case you are not familiar, “Accidents” is a book published each year by the American Alpine Club for its members. The authors briefly describe accidents that happened to rock and mountain climbers the prior year, with analysis of what happened and ways they think the accident could have been avoided or the consequences lessened.

The idea of a book full of details of people being injured or dying may seem macabre, but if you can’t learn from others’ mistakes, you are likely to repeat them. Reading through the book, it occurred to me that I have not ever seen a similar publication for those of us in agriculture.

I’ve heard of plenty of farm accidents over the years and what could have been done to avoid them. The most common to see written about are being trapped in flowing grain, entering low oxygen or toxic gas areas and being caught in spinning equipment. However, there are so many more dangers on farms, some very specific but also very avoidable if known. Why such a publication doesn’t exist may come down to something as simple as no one realizing it was needed. I really hope the reason is not because people are afraid to recount, investigate and analyze agricultural accidents out of fear of themselves or loved ones seeming foolish. The only thing more foolish than an accident happening because you forgot a simple thing that, in hindsight, might have prevented it is leaving others to trip over that same stone in the path.

Ed Viesturs, a famous mountaineer, once wrote that, “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” Counterintuitively, the most dangerous activity in rock and mountain climbing is the descent back down after reaching or at least attempting to reach the top. Without the documentation of accidents in climbing, I don’t think many people would know that. While it may feel like getting the harvest done or that animal sorted must be done at all costs, I think most of us can agree that getting home at the end of the day is more important.

Until next time, keep living the dream, and pay attention to your safety systems. Most accidents happen when a job is nearly finished and people are tired. Plan for that fact and don’t rely on people always being alert to complete a job without accidents, or you are just rolling the dice.

Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.