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Annual Safety Culture Assessment

Once a year, step back and ask how safety really feels on your farm. The answers often differ from what owners assume.

What is a safety culture assessment?

Safety culture is the set of shared beliefs and habits about how safety is treated: what people say, what they do when no one is watching and what happens when someone raises a concern. An assessment is a structured look at it. The point is to listen, not to grade anyone.

It does not need special software. A conversation, a short survey and a review of records are enough for a small farm.

Choose a quiet time of year, such as winter, when people can think and talk.

What questions should you ask?

Ask about trust, training, equipment, pressure, reporting and leadership. Do people feel able to stop a job they think is unsafe? Do they believe reports lead to action? Do they have the tools and time to work safely? Avoid leading questions that suggest the right answer.

Keep questions simple and neutral. Use plain language, and offer them in the languages your workers speak.

Questions should also ask whether people feel valued. A farm where workers believe they are respected tends to hear about problems earlier, which gives you more time to fix them.

• Do you feel safe saying you are hurt?
• Do you have what you need to do the job safely?
• Do you feel pressured to skip steps?
• Do supervisors follow the same rules?
• Do you know what to do in an emergency?

How do you get honest answers?

People answer honestly when they trust that there will be no penalty. Consider anonymous forms, a neutral person to run conversations or small group talks without the owner present.

Explain why you are asking and how you will use the answers. Thank everyone for taking part.

Short group conversations of three or four people often produce more candid answers than a large meeting. Take brief notes without names, and share the themes afterward.

• Anonymous forms
• A neutral facilitator
• Small group talks

What records can you add to the picture?

Look at injuries, near-miss reports, equipment repairs, training logs and meeting notes from the past year. Do they match what workers say?

Gaps between what the records show and what people feel can be the most useful finding.

Notice also what is missing. If no near misses were reported all year, that may mean a very safe farm, or it may mean people do not feel comfortable speaking up.

• Injury and near-miss logs
• Training records
• Equipment repairs

How do you read the results?

Look for patterns and for surprises. Differences between owners, supervisors and workers, or between family and hired workers, can show where trust is missing.

Avoid defending yourself. The goal is to learn, not to win an argument. Write the findings down plainly.

Share the main findings with everyone, including the uncomfortable ones. Hiding results makes people doubt that the process was real.

• Differences between groups
• Gaps between records and opinions
• Surprises worth exploring

How do you turn findings into a plan?

Choose a few changes, assign owners and set dates. Tell workers what you heard and what you will do. People will take part again if they see results.

Ask an extension specialist or state consultation program to help if you are unsure where to begin.

Check in a few weeks later to see whether the changes are happening. A short follow-up conversation shows that the assessment was more than a formality.

• Pick two or three priorities
• Name an owner for each
• Report back within a few weeks

How do you make it a habit?

Do the assessment at the same time each year and compare the answers. Note what improved and what did not.

Keep the process short and respectful, and over time it becomes part of how the farm runs. A one-page summary kept in the same folder each year helps.

If you have a few years of results, look at the long view. Slow, steady improvement is a good sign, and a sudden drop deserves a closer look.

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