COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2019
Island AgSafe consultant
changes gears
Ken Lacroix hands the reins to his daughter as he steps back by AMANDA POELMAN
DUNCAN – AgSafe BC consultant Ken Lacroix will be enjoying retirement after 21 years of service in the agriculture community on Vancouver Island. Lacroix grew up on a
mixed farm in southern Ontario and spent the first 26 years of his career working in the mining industry in Manitoba as a safety coordinator. Working in such a high-risk field fueled Lacroix’s passion for creating safe workplace environments and teaching workers about job site safety in hopes of preventing accidents. Lacroix began working for
AgSafe in 1999 when it was known as FARSHA (the acronym for its formal name, the Farm and Ranch Safety & Health Association). Since then, he has taught courses at Vancouver Island University and North Island College as well as thousands of on-farm workshops in tractor safety, risk assessment and hazard recognition, confined spaces and more. “If you can teach people to
recognize the hazards in the workplace, assess the risks and implement control measures, then you’ve succeeded,” he says. “Most accidents are preventable and by driving home that making safe choices in the workplace is key to prevention, you help
to eliminate the negative consequences of those choices.”
Regulatory enforcement is the biggest change Lacroix has seen over the course of his career. “When I started in the mining field, worker participation in health and safety programs was not required by law. Now employers are mandated to provide safe workplaces,” he says. “Each commodity has its own hazard classification and having good health and safety programs reduces the premiums that have to be paid. In turn, with AgSafe, some of these premiums can go back into training.” The evolution of
enforcement has also changed significantly over the past several years. “Roll bars and seatbelts on
tractors are just one of example of an important change,” says Lacroix. “Not only are we teaching the importance of these things to farming, manufacturers are also making changes in their protocols when marketing their products.” Since 2010, for example, all
tractors come with roll over protection systems (ROPS) and seatbelts and clearly outline the “one seat, one rider” policy. Lacroix says the best and
most rewarding part of this job has definitely been the
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Ken Lacroix is hanging up his hat as Vancouver Island’s AgSafe BC consultant. He’s leaving the position in good hands, though, as his daughter Melissa takes over. AMANDA POELMAN PHOTO
people and interactions he’s had. “Farmers are some of the nicest people in the world. They are hard-working, genuine and honest,” he says. “My goal has always been to find out what a farmer needs and then setting up a program tailored to that need so they can be successful and promote safety on their farm.” Lacroix likes to bring in the whole family on the farms he visits, so that everyone is accountable to each other. He also makes himself available to his clients seven days a week if they need help. “I haven’t been kicked off a
farm yet,” he laughs. “That’s a pretty good legacy, I think!”
Lacroix will still offer private consulting services within his own company but retirement means his daughter Melissa has taken over his AgSafe consulting duties on Vancouver Island. Melissa completed the Occupational Health & Safety program at BCIT and has developed the same passion as her dad when it comes to
training people in workplace safety practices. “It has been incredible for me to have been mentored on the job by my dad,” she says. “People have been very welcoming of me because of the relationships my dad has built in this region and it creates a level of continuity and trust that farmers rely on as I step into this role.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Wishing you all the joys of the season.
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As proud long-term supporters of the agriculture community in B.C., we wish you and your loved ones a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year.
www.countrytractor.ca Kamloops 580 Chilcotin Road
250.851.3101 Toll Free 1.888.851.3101
Armstrong 4193 Noble Road 250.546.3141 Toll Free 1.800.661.3141
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