MMA Blog

Manure lagoon safety: Protecting lives and preventing accidents on your farm

Manure lagoons are an essential part of many dairy farms, helping manage waste effectively. But as useful as they are, they come with serious risks. Accidents around manure lagoons are often severe or even fatal, involving hazards like equipment mishaps, drowning and exposure to dangerous gases. By taking steps to make your farm safer, you can protect yourself, your team and visitors.

What makes manure lagoons so dangerous?

1. Machinery incidents

It’s all too easy for machinery to accidentally slide into a lagoon, especially if the edges are unstable or not clearly marked. Rainy weather can destabilize the ground even more. Moving parts like pumps, agitators or Power Take-Offs (PTOs) also create a risk of snagging loose clothing, long hair or jewelry, pulling someone into the equipment or lagoon.

2. Drowning risks

A manure lagoon’s thick density and often floating crust make it almost impossible to escape if someone or something falls in. Slips and falls are common when boundaries aren’t clear or protective barriers aren’t in place.

3. Toxic gases

When manure breaks down and releases harmful gases, it can quickly turn deadly, especially in enclosed or poorly ventilated areas. Manure gases include highly flammable and suffocating methane, ammonia causing breathing difficulties and eye irritation, carbon dioxide that displaces oxygen posing an asphyxiation risk, and extremely toxic hydrogen sulfide that even in small amounts can cause unconsciousness or death.

What steps can you take to maximize safety around manure lagoons?

Thankfully, you can reduce these risks with some straightforward measures. By focusing on training, infrastructure and clear safety policies, you’ll create a safer environment for everyone on your farm.

1. Train your team

Include safety around manure lagoons in your new employee orientation, prioritizing training from an employee’s first day on the job. Train with safety equipment and include practical policies and procedures, such as never work alone, only specific trained employees are allowed to operate machinery near the lagoon, and no smoking or open flames allowed near agitation or pumping areas. Continue to regularly train your team on the best practices for working around lagoons and machinery.

2. Install physical barriers and lighting

Make lagoon boundaries obvious and keep people and machinery at a safe distance by installing a brightly colored fence or concrete barriers around the lagoon. Designate an access point along the boundary. A locked access gate will keep unauthorized people from accidentally entering. Good lighting around the lagoon is also a worthwhile safety measure, especially if your team works near lagoons early in the morning or late in the day.

3. Protect against machinery accidents

Guard all moving parts of machinery, such as shafts and agitators, to prevent accidents. Make it a policy to tie back long hair, secure loose clothing and remove jewelry before working around machinery.

4. Be cautious with confined spaces

If you have enclosed or walled manure storage, treat these as confined spaces. Before anyone enters, test the air for harmful gases, provide proper safety gear such as respirators and monitor air quality continuously during the work.

5. Plan for emergencies

Make sure you have a solid emergency plan in place for falls, machinery accidents and gas exposure. Practice these plans with your team, so everyone knows what to do. And keep life-saving equipment, like flotation devices and harnesses, nearby and ready to use.

Why It Matters?

By addressing the risks of manure lagoons, you’re reducing your liability risk and showing your team that their safety matters. Creating a culture where accidents are less likely to happen can make a big difference in keeping your farm a safe and productive place to work.

Learn more about our dairy farm insurance solutions here.

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