2014 Safety competition, the Enama and UmbriaFiere award

Pruning implements manufactured by the French company convinced the jury commission because of their ability to drastically reduce accidental cuts. Coming away from Agriumbria with honorable mentions were Caffini, Dondi, Fratelli Marinelli e Sfoggia Agricoltural Division

The French company Infaco was named the winner of the second edition of the Safety Competition at Agriumbria 2014, set up by the Umbriafiere and Enama, the Italian National Agricultural Mechanization Agency, for awarding outstanding technological innovations designed to enhance safety, safeguard the environment and rationalize fuel consumption. The French manufacturer was tapped for the prestigious prize for their DSES safety device, a conductive glove connected to the F3010 electronic pruning shear’s control unit by a cable. In detail, as soon as the cutting head and the conductive glove, worn on the operator's free hand, come into contact, the cutting process is instantaneously stopped and the blade returns to the open position making it impossible for the blade to complete its cutting cycle and significantly reducing the risk of injury. Infaco was not however the only company coming away from the Umbria trade fair with an award. Leading the way among the other four named for honorable mentions was Caffini in the Veneto Region. The company located in Palù, near Verona, was cited by the jury commission for their highly efficient device for mistblower sprayers designed to stop drift which deploys an ingenious curtain of air flow to prevent the escape of drops of the plant treatment product to contain drift and save considerable quantities of the product used. Among other features, it is noteworthy to point out that Caffini's new device can be mounted not only on new sprayer models but also on those already in service on farms. For Dondi, the 2014 honorable mention came as the second in a row following the award the company won at the most recent Agriumbria. The manufacturer in Ospedalicchio di Bastia Umbra was named for the Strip-Work strip tillage cultivator for operations on the rows by alternating areas of untilled soil to rows of tilled soil thereby reducing areas worked and time and costs required for tillage while lessening soil compaction. Also Fratelli Marinelli came home with their second Agriumbria prize for the manufacturer's patented front ROPS for strongly increasing tractor safety, a Roll Over Protection Structure which can also be folded away. Another honorable mention was assigned to Sfoggia Agriculture Division for an electronic device with a touch screen control enabling an operator to automatically and directly manage the manufacturer's precision vacuum planter from the tractor cab. Thanks to the location of the control panel Sfoggia has not only optimized the management of the planter but also reduced the time needed by the operator to climb down from the cab thereby limiting tasks performed at ground level to avoid the risks encountered in these jobs. In summary, all the innovations highlighted at Agriumbria look as if they can contribute to the reduction of accidents in agriculture to help continue this trend of decline over past years. At the awards ceremony, the Enama director, Sandro Liberatori, commented, “Progress in the technologies applied to agricultural machinery and implements, along with training, has made agricultural work safer.” Statistics compiled by Inail, the compulsory insurance institute against accidents at work and occupational diseases on behalf of the state, confirm Liberatori's statement: accidents in the agriculture industry fell from 53,000 in 2008 to 43,000 in 2012 for a double digit decline. Enama, however, warns that the guard against accidents must not be lowered because there is a great deal more which can and must be done on the safety front in the primary sector. “I'm thinking for example of the obsolenscence of the machinery in our national inventory, the renewal of which would allow work to be performed with less polluting machinery and for optimizing protection for workers in case of accident. The road to follow is still a long one and for this reason the synergies of collaboration in all the agri-mechanical production chains is essential,” the Enama chief added.