Each year, accidents related to electricity cause extensive damage to property and livestock on Manitoba farms.

The following guidelines on working safely with and around electricity on the farm were developed to reduce the possibility of accidents and downtime. They are no substitute for job training or proper equipment use.

Make safety part of doing the chores. Take some time to review your work practices. Many accidents are a result of workers failing to disconnect the circuit before working on electrical equipment.

• Look Up. Stay Clear. Stay Alive. This new farm safety program provides guidelines for the safe movement of oversized, and in particular, overheight equipment in Manitoba.

• Farm Safety Checklist.Test your knowledge of farm safety with this do-it-yourself farm safety check-up.

• Keep Your Distance from Overhead Power Lines. Each year farm workers are injured or killed because they accidentally made contact with overhead high voltage lines. Follow these safety precautions with moving equipment, positioning irrigation systems, and locating fuel tanks.

• Electrically Heated Livestock Waterers. A firm platform for the waterer, grounding of metal guard rails that animals can touch, and a separate #6 AWG stranded copper ground are the keys to safe operation of electrically heated livestock waterers.

• Farm Yard Planning and Renovation. Electrical safety tips to consider if you are planning a move to a new farm site or thinking of developing your farm yard.

• Myths about Electricity. Can rubber and wood protect you from lethal shocks? Knowing the facts could save your life.

• Farm Safety-How Much Do You Know? Take this test on the electrocution dangers around your farm.

• Call Before You Dig. Digging to plant trees or make other excavations on your farm could be deadly if you do not call before you dig. Includes clearances required between power lines and wells.

• Permits and Inspections If you're planning a renovation or adding a building to a farm yard, an electrical permit must be obtained from Manitoba Hydro.

Look Up. Stay Clear. Stay Alive.

Plan a route to stay clear of overhead electrical lines and other hazards.

If you will be transporting large farm equipment

Always map out your route before leaving and know the size of your equipment. This will help you avoid dangerous and potentially deadly contact with overhead electrical lines and other hazards.This program has been developed to provide a reference for the safe movement of oversized, and in particular, overheight equipment in Manitoba. Historically, one third of all recorded public powerline contacts involve overheight vehicles and 13 per cent of all farm-related fatalities are the result of roadway incidents, most of which occur in the spring and fall. Provincial regulations set the maximum legal dimensions for vehicles, including farm vehicles and implements travelling on all roads in Manitoba. As a safety measure, vehicles exceeding these limits require a permit from MTGS before travelling on provincial highways, i.e., numbered roads. When travelling on municipal roads, operators must contact the rural municipality regarding local policies on over-dimensional vehicles, loads, or equipment.

Allowable Dimensions for Farm Implements and Other Vehicles

When your vehicle, equipment or load exceeds the following dimensions, a permit is required from Manitoba Transportation & Government Services (MTGS) in order to protect everyone using provincial highways.

Height: 4.15 m (13’ 7”)

Additional approvals are required from Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS):

1. When the height is over 5.2 m (17’) the operator must contact Manitoba Hydro for route approval.

2. When the height is over 4.6 m (15’ 1”), the operator must contact MTS for route approval.

Manitoba Hydro and MTS will inspect the route and determine what actions are required.These utilities must relay this information to MTGS before a permit will be issued. Manitoba Hydro and MTS will assist the permit holder to ensure safe movement of the over-dimensional equipment, as needed.

Length: Single units - 12.5 m (4l’)

One articulation (or hitch), total length: 21.5 m (70’ 6”)

Two or more articulations, total length: 23 m (75’ 5”).

Width: 2.6 m (8’ 6”)

Note: Where an implement is operated or drawn upon a highway by a farmer for farm purposes, there is no requirement to obtain a permit for exceeding this width.

For assistance in determining how your equipment measures up, contact your local MTGS Compliance Inspector or call Compliance Services to make an appointment for an on-site assessment.

If you have concerns about clearance to overhead powerlines, contact your local Manitoba Hydro district office for assistance in measuring lines and planning a safe route.

Other Potential Hazards

Large machinery also has the potential to make contact with railway signals and signage. Damage to these typesof infrastructures can create hazards. If you spot damaged railway equipment, contact the Canadian National Railway (CNR) immediately.

Following these guidelines will help you and others on your farm stay safe:

• Always know your route before transporting tall equipment.

• Look up and make overhead safety a priority.

• Remember that cultivators, airseeders, and grain augers make contact with overhead powerlines most often.

• Move slowly and carefully when transporting tall equipment. Constantly check to make sure that ample clearances are maintained.

• Never allow anyone to ride on top of moving farm equipment or hay bales.

• Under no circumstances should anyone but trained Hydro staff attempt to lift powerlines.

• Never transport metal elevators, metal irrigation pipe or metal ladders near powerlines.

• Granaries and other farm buildings should be located at least 9 m (30’) from overhead powerlines.

• Be aware of other vehicles on the road.

To prevent incidents between farm equipment and other vehicles, persons or property, consider the SAFE concept:

Spot the hazard;
Assess the risk;
Find a safer way;
Everyday.

Working Together for Your Safety

Program partners include:

Manitoba Hydro, Keystone Agriculture Producers and the departments of Manitoba Agriculture, Food & Rural Initiative, Manitoba Labour, and Manitoba Transportation & Government Services.

For information on traveling permits on over dimensional requirements contact: www.gov.mb.ca/tgs/transreg/compreg/permits/index.html. Additional farm safety information is available at www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/farmsafety.

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Farm Safety Checklist

Take a tour of your farmyard to identify any potential electrical safety hazards.

1. Are all trees in the yard free and clear from overhead power lines?
2. Are your farmyard buildings located the following distances away from power lines: Barns - at least 30 feet (9 metres) House - at least 50 feet (15 metres) Bale and haystacks - at least 30 feet (9 metres) Granaries - at least 30 feet (9 metres)
3. Are your propane and fuel tanks located at least 25 feet (7.6 metres) away from power lines?
4. Are worn or frayed extension cords thrown away?
5. When you work outdoors do you locate ladders so they will never contact utility wires?
6. Are overhead wires in the farmyard area and those near field entrances high enough to adequately clear machinery?
7. Do you always lower grain augers and cultivator wings before going under power lines?
8. Have you had overhead lines relocated underground to avoid contact with high vehicles in the farm yard?
9. Are outside outlets weatherproof and installed with ground fault circuit interrupters?
10. Are all electrical appliances and power tools used around the farm CSA approved?
11. Do you unplug tools and equipment that are not being used?
12. Do all outlets have three-pronged receptacles to provide proper grounding of electrical tools and appliances?
13. Are fuses and switches all labeled properly to prevent confusion in an emergency?
14. Do family members and all hired farm workers know where and how to disconnect power in case of an electrical emergency?
15. Do family members and all hired farm workers know first aid for electrical shock and burns?

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Keep Your Distance from Overhead Power Lines

Overhead power lines are live and uninsulated.

Contact with an overhead power line can cause a serious or even fatal accident. Protect yourself, your family, and those who visit and work on your farm.

Start by taking an inventory of all the power lines in your yard and along the road to your fields. Make it a habit to look up before you begin any job. Maintain safe clearances at all times.

Moving Equipment

• Maintain at least 3 metres or 10 feet between power lines and moving equipment. Be careful when using grain augers, cultivators, tractors and sprayers.
• When moving bales, loads of hay and granaries, be sure there is at least 3 metres or 10 feet of clearance. When having new bins or equipment delivered, be sure to plan a safe route that doesn't cross under power lines. If it is necessary to go under a line, call Manitoba Hydro for assistance.
• Raised truck boxes and tractor loaders can contact power lines, with fatal results. Always lower equipment before moving.
• Always move slowly and carefully, constantly checking to be sure clearances to overhead power lines are maintained.
• Never allow anyone to ride on top of moving farm equipment or hay bales.

Irrigation Systems

• Position irrigation pipe stacks at least 9 metres or 30 feet from overhead power lines.
• Move pipes horizontally rather than vertically to avoid "flashover" from overhead power lines.
• Keep water jets at least 4.5 metres or 15 feet away from power lines.
• If a solid stream of water reaches a power line, stay away and call Manitoba Hydro for help. The entire system may have become energized.

Fuel Tanks

• Install fuel tanks in a safe location away from overhead power lines that could pose a problem during refuelling.
• Position fuel tanks at least 9 metres or 30 feet from power lines.
• If possible, locate fuel tanks beyond the last pole of your electrical system.
• Remember that fuel storage tanks of any kind are not permitted beneath overhead electrical conductors.

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Electrically Heated Livestock Waterers

If a stock waterer develops an electrical fault, such as a bare hot wire touching a metal chassis, some electrical current may find its way to animals "grounded" in wet soil around the waterer. The current could deliver an uncomfortable shock that discourages the animals from getting their full quota of water.

Normally, the internal ground wire that forms part of the conductor bundle supplying power to the waterer can take care of leakage current. But the effectiveness of the internal ground wire may be reduced because of the long distance from the power source to the waterer, or from corrosion that can result from age.

Follow these operating and maintenance guidelines to protect you and your animals from electric shocks.

• Be sure the waterers are solidly mounted on a firm platform.
• Install the service box or panel close to the waterer in a protected area so animals cannot damage the equipment.
• Metal parts of the waterer should be grounded back to their source with #6 AWG stranded copper wire. Metallic guard rails in contact with waterers must be connected to the grounding conductor by a terminal welded or bolted to the rail.
• The #6 AWG wire provides added insurance that electrical current from a fault is intercepted before it finds a path to ground through an animal or human in contact with the stock waterer.
• Before turning on your stock waterer's power for winter, check connections for damaged or frayed conductors. Cleaning up corroded connections with a wire brush is a good idea.

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Farm Yard Planning and Renovation

If you are planning a move to a new farm site or just starting to develop your farm yard, plan with safety in mind. Here are some things to consider:

• Locate barns, sheds and granaries at least 9 metres or 30 feet from overhead power lines.
• When building new bins, plan the traffic movement so that it won't be necessary to cross under overhead lines.
• You must locate propane and fuel tanks at least 9 metres or 30 feet from power lines.
• Remember that overhead power lines in the farm yard area and near field entrances need to be high enough to adequately clear machinery. Call Manitoba Hydro if you need assistance to move lines.
• Plant tall-growing trees at least 9 metres or 30 feet to the side of overhead power lines.
• Customers interested in the installation of underground service (buried power lines) should call their local Manitoba Hydro office. Rural underground service offers several benefits, including:
  • eliminating the possibility of wires coming down in bad weather
  • eliminating the dangers of wires coming into contact with equipment
  • improving farm yard tidiness.

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Myths about Electricity

Farmers and their families have been injured or killed because they believed in myths about electricity. The truth can be shocking. Get the facts.

Myth: Rubber boots, gloves and tires will protect you.

Facts: Rubber offers little protection against the voltages found in overhead power lines.

• Rubber boots and gloves are not made to insulate you against the tremendous amount of power flowing through a typical distribution line. They will catch fire if zapped by electricity.
• Some rubber tires will actually conduct electricity. For example, carbon-based rubber, steel belts and reinforcements make some tires very good conductors.
• Tires on farm vehicles may explode or begin to bum immediately upon contact with a power line.

Myth: Wood doesn't conduct electricity so it's safe to cut tree branches that are touching power lines. Wooden ladders and tool handles also deter the flow of electricity.

Facts: Wood can conduct electricity. It's a good insulator only when every trace of moisture and chemical deposits is removed.

Tree trimming is dangerous. You may accidentally touch a line with your saw or hand. If you are on an aluminium ladder or the tree is wet, you run the risk of a deadly electrical shock. Remember, the interior of the tree is always damp with sap.

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Farm Safety-How Much Do You Know?

Reduce your risk of electrocution on the farm by taking this test:

1. Utility lines are uninsulated wires, which means that the wires are bare. True of false?
2. A transfer switch for a standby generator removes the farm electrical system from the power company's utility lines. True or false?
3. Which of the following pose electrocution hazards from overhead power lines?
   1. a tractor pulling a fold-up cultivator
   2. a tractor with a raised front-end loader
   3. transportation of a portable grain auger
   4. all of the above.
4. If your tractor comes in contact with a power line, you should wait for help. True or false?

Answers: 1-True; 2-True; 3-d; 4-True

Source: Safe Farm-Promoting Agricultural Health & Safety. Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

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