Jesse Bydevaate is finishing his last few days of harvesting on his family farm North of Taber. But as the season comes to an end, Bydevaate is also still grieving the loss of his brother to a tragic incident.
“It was a freak accident and if he did it 100 times over it would never happen again. It was a late night and he slipped,” says Bydevaate.
Last October, 28-year old Joel Bydevaate was working on a potato harvester, when he got stuck in the roller section of the machine
His brother in-law Lucus Bennen says it was just another day on the farm. Joel and his father were harvesting potatoes since the early morning, something Joel loved to do.
“He was always the one safety-oriented… It was a freak accident. He tripped and fell and landed on wrong spot,” adds Bennen.
Laura Nelson is the executive director of the Farm Safety Centre in Raymond. She says this is the time of year when operations are humming along full speed and danger levels are ramped up.
“Even the word accident implies that it just happens and I don’t really agree with that and even statistics would say that a majority of time things can be done minimize risk.”
In 2013 there were 16 farming relating deaths, all involving men. 75% of the incidents were related to tractors, 56% were in Southern Alberta.
“We average about 18 deaths a year . Last year was on the low side, and three or four were children,” explains Nelson.
Friends of Bydevaate’s say they are finding a balance of getting the crop into the bin, and doing it safely.
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