Identifying and Reducing Risk

Injuries to people and damage to property are the two greatest risks for farmers’ markets. Here are the main risks and ways to identify and reduce them:

Trip and fall risks

One of the most common risks is a trip and fall incident where a customer or vendor trips over an electrical cord, container, canopy stake, uneven grass or a pothole in a vendors stand, shopping aisle or parking area.

Market Managers can reduce trip and fall risks by ensuring:

• There is a site plan for the market that shows the stand layout, walkways, parking spaces, emergency access, and services (seating [benches or picnic tables], washrooms, handwashing stations, electricity and water). The plan should be to scale and show the stand numbers.  Vendors requiring services (electricity or water) should be assigned to stands closest to those services to reduce or eliminate any cords or hoses crossing walkways.  Vendors using generators (if approved) should be placed in areas where the noise has the least impact on the market.
• Aisles and walkways are inspected and maintained.
• Vendors’ products, equipment, canopy frame weights and ropes, if used, are used safely with proper safety marking or identification.
• Policies and procedures address safety issues by requiring vendors to:
  • Keep their products and equipment inside their stand lines
  • Ensure there are no trip, slip or fall hazards in or around their stand
  • Have their stand fully set up before the market is open and not to pack-up or leave before the end of the market day
  • Safely anchor their stand canopy, ensuring any ropes or weights used to anchor it are not trip hazards

Vendors can reduce trip and fall risks by ensuring:

• Stands are fully set up before the market is open and not to pack-up or leave before the end of the market day
• Products and equipment are inside stand lines and there are no trip, slip or fall hazards
• Uneven or rough patches of ground inside the stand are made smooth by covering or filling them in
• Products and equipment remain inside their stand throughout the day and have not been moved by customers or staff

Stand canopy, covers and umbrella risks

Vendors and their products require shelter from the sun and rain.  Pop-up stand canopies (10’x10’ or 3.05mx3.05m), covers and umbrellas need to be light weight and easy to set-up and take down.  For that reason, they have been designed for temporary use only, and cannot withstand strong winds and other severe weather. They also require some form of anchoring to hold them down. These factors all contribute to making them make them hazardous:

• Canopies, tents or umbrellas can be lifted and moved by the wind injuring customers or other vendors and damaging property
• Canopy stakes, weights or lines can be trip hazards causing vendors or customers to fall and injure themselves
• Canopies, tents or umbrellas can be too low causing injuries to vendors or customers as they pass by

Market Managers can reduce stand canopy, covers and umbrella risks by ensuring policies and procedures are in place requiring:

• Canopies and covers are of good quality and intended for market use
• Canopies and covers are well maintained
• Canopies and covers are properly and safely anchored
• Canopies and covers provide at least 2 m (6’) of clearance
• Canopies, covers and umbrellas are removed and stored in high winds (there are a lot of factors, including how it’s anchored, but the industry guideline is between 40 and 50 km per hour) or when it is not in use
• Canopies and covers are properly and safely anchored, some manufacturers and municipalities recommend a minimum weight of 18 kg (40 lbs.) securely attached per leg. Many vendors use sandbags attached to canopy legs with Velcro straps. Other options include these shared by the Civitan Club of Oakville Farmers Market:

Vendors can reduce stand canopy, covers and umbrella risks by ensuring:

• Canopies, covers and umbrellas are safely and securely anchored, and any ropes or weights used to anchor them are not trip hazards
• Canopies and covers provide at least 2 m of clearance
• Canopies, covers and umbrellas are removed in high winds (there are a lot of factors, including how it’s anchored, but the industry guideline is between 40 and 50 km per hour) or when not in use

Vehicle access, movement and traffic

Vendors need access to their stands and most customers drive to the market.  This puts people and vehicles in close proximity and can cause damage to vendor and/or customer vehicles, stands and products, or worse, causing physical injury.  For example:

• Vendors may have difficulty accessing their stand by vehicle and with distractions and congestion can injure people, stands or products
• Customers may be parking in undefined areas or trying to get as close as possible to pick up purchased items and can injure other customers, vendors, stands or products
• Distracted or disoriented individuals can drive into the market, injuring people, stands and products

Market Managers can reduce vehicle access, movement, and traffic risks by ensuring:

• The market layout is planned with safe vendor and customer access and movement in mind, answering the following questions:
• Vendor access to their stands – where do they unload, load and restock from?
• If vehicles are part of the stand – how do they safely get into and out of the stand?
• Where do customers park and how do they safely enter and leave the market?
• How is access to fire hydrants and fire lanes maintained for emergency vehicles?
• Are solid vehicle barriers required to protect the crowds gathered from an accidental or intentional ramming incident?
• Parking and walking entrances and exits are clearly signed or marked with parking pylons or barricades
• Parking and vehicle movement is monitored and assisted, as required, by staff or volunteers

Vendors can reduce vehicle access, movement, and traffic risks by ensuring:

• Stands are fully set up before the market is open and vehicles are safely in the stand, if permitted, or parked outside of the market
• Vehicles do not return to the stand until the end of market day
• Staff, vendors or volunteers assist by guiding you, should you need to drive in the market during market hours

Food can be hazardous.  Thousands of Canadians are hospitalized by food-born illnesses annually.  Farmers’ market shoppers care about the food they eat – they make an effort to buy locally grown and produced food because they trust it.  Farmers, vendors, managers, and market leaders must all be aware of food safety practices and policies and ensure they are being practiced in the preparation, transportation, storage and selling of food at their market.  For more details, please review the  Food Safety section of this website.

Public health officials use a risk-based approach when promoting food safety and educating food handlers.  They use the definitions of high-risk or potentially hazardous and low-risk or non-hazardous foods to identify the inherent risk of the products and the food safety practices required for each.  For example, bread and fruit pies are considered to be low risk or non-hazardous while meat, dairy and many prepared foods (hamburgers and salads containing mayonnaise) are considered high risk or potentially hazardous.  Knowing about risk will help you understand how and why the food safety practices and regulations have been developed.

Market Managers and vendors can reduce food-related risks by:

• Reviewing the Food Safety section of this website and having a general understanding of the applicable legislation (Ontario Food Premises Regulation and the Health Protection and Promotion Act)
• Knowing the difference between high-risk or potentially hazardous and low-risk or non-hazardous foods
• Requiring new applicants applying to sell hazardous foods to undergo a risk assessment by a public health inspector and receive a satisfactory inspection report prior to vending at market
• Reaching out to the local public health inspector annually and providing them with a list of vendors and products they sell
• Organizing a food handler training program in co-operation with the local public health unit

Vendors can reduce food-related risks by:

• Reviewing the Food Safety section of this website and having a general understanding of the applicable legislation (Ontario Food Premises Regulation and the Health Protection and Promotion Act)
• Knowing the difference between high-risk or potentially hazardous and low-risk or non-hazardous foods
• Undergoing a risk assessment by a public health inspector, as required, prior to becoming eligible for a market stand
• Providing a copy of a satisfactory public health unit inspection report to the market manager/organizer
• Taking a food handler training program
• Advising customers of actions they can take in the safe transportation and storage of food

Markets are community gathering places attended by large numbers of people of all ages and health conditions.  Consumer research has shown that a significant percentage of market shoppers are older adults.  These factors all contribute to the likelihood of a medical emergency at your market.

Vendors access their stands by vehicle and most customers drive to the market.  This puts people and vehicles in close proximity, risking injury to customers and vendors. Markets are also workplaces, requiring the unloading and loading of vehicles, setting up of stands and preparation of products, all of which involve some risk of physical injury.

Market Managers can plan to reduce Medical Emergency and Physical Injury Risks by:

• Having an Emergency Plan (covered in Section 5 below) that identifies them, or their designate, as the “go-to-person” in an emergency
• Having a well-stocked first aid kit, including a blanket. John Ambulance suggests the Type 3 Intermediate First Aid Kit for markets.
• Having a megaphone to manage crowds

Market Managers can reduce Medical Emergency and Physical Injury Risks by:

• Determining the extent of the injury or seriousness of the illness
• Contacting emergency services by calling 9-1-1, if needed or requested
• Directing someone to look for and meet the first responders/ambulance and guide them to the person needing care
• Not moving the ill/injured person unless they are in imminent danger
• Keeping the ill/injured person calm and comfortable (lying down, covered and warm) until first responders arrive
• Not administering first aid unless you are certified in first aid or CPR
• Completing an Incident Report (covered in Section 5 below) detailing the situation and actions that were taken to address it, and getting copies, as required, to the market board and landlord/host

One of the best things about farmers’ markets is that they are typically outdoors.  However, this exposes them to the impact of extreme weather, which is expected to increase in the years to come.  Extreme weather includes:

Storm and Wind Hazards

Severe storms such as tornados and hurricanes are serious risks for outdoor markets as they can bring heavy rain, high winds, lightening and hail. These events can develop quickly and can be very dangerous.

Lightning

Weather systems that bring lightning can come with little or no warning. Lightning strikes and lightning injuries can prove deadly. No place outdoors is safe in the event of thunderstorms and lightning.

Extreme Heat

Heat waves are usually accompanied by high humidity, making the temperature feel even hotter.  This can decrease the body’s ability to cool itself, particularly for children and older adults.

Market Managers can reduce severe weather risks by:

• Signing up for Environment Canada and/or Weather Network weather alerts and monitoring and assessing the market day weather conditions starting the day before and looking for the following progressive messages:
  • Weather Advisories are issued when weather conditions are deteriorating and may be a cause for concern
  • Weather Watches are issued when there is potential for severe weather
  • Weather Warnings are issued when severe weather is occurring or imminent.
• Having a Market Closing Protocol or Procedure, as part of your market’s emergency plan, that addresses:
• Who is responsible to monitor and assess the market day weather conditions
• Under what conditions operations are stopped, canopies and umbrellas are required to be taken down and when vendors are to take cover in their vehicles or nearby buildings
• How are customers advised that the market is closed/closing and that they should leave immediately and take cover
• When conditions are reasonable to resume or when the market is closed for the day

Managers and Vendors can reduce severe weather risks by ensuring that:

• If you can hear thunder, you are within striking distance of lightning and should seek shelter indoors or in your vehicle
• You safely remove your stand canopy, cover or umbrellas when the winds threaten
• If someone has been seriously injured or hit by lightning call 911 immediately. Keep them comfortable until first responders arrive.