BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Outstanding achievements in safety were recognized at the Green Cross for Safety Awards celebration held May 16 at the Swissotel in Chicago.
Progressive Agriculture Safety Day®, a program of the Progressive Agriculture Foundation®, took home the National Safety Council’s Green Cross Safety Advocate Award.
This prestigious award recognizes the advancement of evidence-based best practices to raise awareness or change policy to prevent further injuries and deaths.
The annual celebration of safety, put on by the National Safety Council, brings together mission-driven advocates, safety professionals, corporations and government officials from around the country with the common goal of creating a safer world.
“To be recognized with a National Safety Council Award is validation of the hard work by many in the name of safety, both inside and outside the organizational setting,” says Amy K. Harper, Ph.D., CSP, SMS director of workplace strategy and consulting operations, National Safety Council.
“Those dedicated to safety as a profession are passionate advocates for improvement and are skilled leaders and listeners. It is our hope that recognition of excellence in safety will not only encourage other companies to emulate what works, but provide a benchmark and inspiration for what is possible.”
The Progressive Agriculture Foundation was recognized for its recent project with the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health and the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health called Creating Enduring Resources for Farm Safety Education.
This program provided Progressive Agriculture Safety Day coordinators with a collection of digital resources highlighting various safety topics, as well as instructions on how to build props to effectively demonstrate proper farm and health safety strategies to children at Progressive Agriculture Safety Day events.
The Green Cross Safety Advocate Award was sponsored by FirstGroup, a leading provider of transport services in the UK and North America.
Brian Kuhl, chief executive officer, and Jana Davidson, education content specialist, accepted the award on behalf of the Progressive Agriculture Foundation.
“Looking back to the early 1990’s, the foundation for our program began,” shared Kuhl.
“Jack Odle, then the editor-in-chief of The Progressive Farmer magazine, became frustrated writing about heartbreaking incidents causing injury and death among farmers and farm families, which were shared through the magazine’s series called ‘Our Deadly Harvest.’
“Jack vowed to lead an effort to help reduce these occurrences, gathering several agricultural safety and health professionals to make a positive change.”
“This is a recognition of the past 25 years of growth and a rallying cry for the next 25 — a step that brings us closer to our vision of living in a world where no child will ever become ill, suffer an injury or die from farm, ranch or rural activities,” said Kuhl.
Other award recipients included Nationwide, which took home the Safety Excellence Award, and Schneider, which earned the Safety Innovation Award. For more on the event and the award winners, visit greencross.nsc.org.
“We were so pleased to learn we are among the finalists for the coveted National Safety Council Green Cross Award, but to have be named the winner is an amazing honor,” shares Jana Davidson, Progressive Agriculture Foundation education content specialist.
“We are honored to see Progressive Agriculture Safety Day, recognized by an organization whose commitment to building safer communities aligns so closely with our own mission.”
Davidson started as a volunteer with the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day® program in 2005, teaching safety stations at Jefferson County’s annual event held each spring in Brookville.
In 2007, she became the coordinator of a local Safety Day for Clearfield County that’s held each fall and to date has reached close to 4,500 youth participants and adult volunteers from the Clearfield, Curwensville, Moshannon Valley and West Branch School Districts.
In 2014, Davidson joined the Progressive Agriculture Foundation as a full-time staff member, where she is responsible for curriculum development and maintenance for the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day program, public relations and marketing and serves as a trainer of the Safety Day coordinators who host more than 400 events annually throughout North America.
Davidson resides in Clearfield with her husband, Jim, and their two daughters, Lauren and Lily.
