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Hazard Mapping Your Property

A hazard map is a picture of your farm with the dangerous places marked. It makes hazards visible, helps with training and gives responders a head start.

What is a hazard map?

A hazard map is a simple drawing or aerial photograph of the farm with hazards marked on it. It shows where things are, such as ponds, tanks, power lines, fuel storage, chemical storage, bins, steep slopes and busy lanes, so that anyone can see the whole picture at a glance.

You do not need special software. A sketch on paper, a printed aerial photo or a free online map can work. The value comes from the process of walking the farm and the conversations it starts.

Treat it as a shared picture. When everyone has seen the same map, conversations about hazards become faster and clearer.

How do you make one?

Start with a base: a sketch or printed aerial view with the buildings, roads, fields and fences. Walk the property with a notebook and a partner, and mark each hazard. Use symbols or colors and add a legend.

Keep it readable. Too many marks can make a map confusing, so group them by type and consider making separate maps for different topics, such as water, chemicals or power.

Number or color-code the hazards, and keep a short list that explains each one, who is affected and what control is in place.

• Draw or print a base map.
• Walk the farm and mark each hazard.
• Add a simple legend.
• Keep separate layers if the map gets crowded.
• Number each hazard on the map.
• Keep a short legend with who is affected.
• List the control that is in place.

What should you include?

Include the places where harm is most severe or most likely: water and lagoons, grain and feed storage, confined spaces, fuel and chemicals, overhead power lines and buried utilities, shops, animal handling areas, steep or soft ground and the busiest vehicle routes.

Also include safety resources: first aid kits, fire extinguishers, shutoffs, rescue aids, meeting points, gates and the route responders should use. Mark where phones work.

Do not guess at technical details such as clearance distances for power lines. Contact the utility and check official sources for specifics.

• Overhead lines and buried utilities.
• Fuel, chemical and grain storage.
• Water, steep slopes and soft ground.
• First aid kits, shutoffs and meeting points.

Who should help?

Bring family members, workers and even older children. People notice different things, and someone who uses a lane every day may know about hazards you have stopped seeing. Treat the walk as a shared learning activity.

Invite a fire department representative or extension agent to review the map, since they may spot hazards or suggest improvements.

Ask teens and children to find hazards you might have missed. Their different height and perspective often reveals things.

How do you use the map?

Post the map in the shop or mudroom and use it to orient new workers and visitors. Use it in training, and for planning where to place signs, fences and rescue aids. Share a copy with local responders so that they know what to expect.

Refer to it when planning jobs. For example, before moving tall equipment, check the map for overhead lines.

Include contractors and seasonal workers in the orientation, since they have the least time on the property to learn it.

• Post it in the shop or mudroom.
• Use it to orient new workers.
• Give a copy to local responders.

How do you keep it current?

Update the map after any change: new buildings, moved storage, new fences, a new pond, new equipment and changes in traffic patterns. Review it during your annual safety review and mark the date on it.

Share updates with everyone and replace old copies. An outdated map is worse than none because it can lead people to trust what is no longer true.

Date every version and mark the old ones as replaced.

• After new buildings or moved storage.
• After a new pond, fence or equipment.
• During the annual review.

What are the limits?

A map shows where hazards are but does not remove them. Use it with controls, training and supervision. Some hazards are temporary or move, such as parked equipment or flooded areas, so keep awareness alive.

Treat the map as a conversation starter and a planning tool, and remember that in an emergency, calling 911 comes first.

Share the limits of the map with workers so that no one assumes an unmarked area is free of hazards. Encourage people to report anything they find that is not on the map.

Last reviewed: November 12, 2026. Written by the Farm Safety Editorial Team. See our editorial policy.