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Shift Farm Safety into High Gear

In the United States, the third week of September marks the start of National Farm Safety and Health Week (NFSHW).  Begun by Presidential Proclamation in 1944, NFSHW acknowledges the dangers associated with agriculture work, and highlights safety precautions and trainings that can reduce workplace accidents and deaths.  

Each year, the National Education Center for Ag Safety (NECAS) provides farmers with programs and materials to promote farmer safety and health.  This year’s theme is “Shift Farm Safety into High Gear” and today’s focus is on tractor safety and rural roadway safety.  

In April 1945, William Anglim, Chief of Operations for the Office of Labor’s Mexican National Worker Program (Bracero Program), wrote that 54% of the 200 deaths reported during 1942, 1943, 1944, and early 1945 were “caused by all accidents, representing 108 workers, many of whom could have been saved by a better understanding and adoption of simple principles of accident prevention.”

Both Arizona and California have strong farming histories, and many records in the National Archives at Riverside relate to those histories.  In honor of the farmworkers risking injury each day, we’ve pulled together a few highlights from our materials. 

Series: Administrative Files, 1943-1948. Record Group 145, Records of the Farm Service Agency, 1904-1983. (National Archives Identifier: 33753365).

Series: Photographs, 1936-1942. Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1999. (National Archives Identifier: 561578).