Recommended Safety Practices for Hoof Trimmers
Specifically for Trimmers
- Ask clients if they have travelled, been on an airplane or out of the country in the last 14 days or if they or their household/farmhands are sick (have a cough, fever or trouble breathing). Cancel or reschedule your appointments to farms with infections or high risk of infection.
- Reduce human traffic where you are working. Keep farmhands, herdsmen, farmers and others outside your working/containment area. When possible, work in isolation with the cows.
- Do not accept food or beverages on the jobsite. Bring your own and do not share.
- Sanitize tools and equipment between barns and farms. Do not clean your equipment at either property to avoid possible reinfection and transmission.
- Sanitize all received products and supplies. Remember, COVID-19 survives for days on some surfaces. The virus could be on any packaging. Disinfect packaging before loading into your truck/trailer. Then resanitize your hands before touching other product, supplies or entering your truck.
- Sanitize your truck interior (steering wheel, gear shift, rear view mirror, radio, etc.) between jobs.
- Use latex or latex alternative gloves when handling gates, barn doors, and any other surface that could be contaminated by others.
- Remove latex gloves before entering your truck. To remove gloves safely and reduce chance of contamination, pull one glove off by the opening, pulling it out over itself so the outside of the glove is wrapped inside. Then palm that glove with the hand still gloved. Slide one finger of the now un-gloved hand under the opening of the glove on the other hand. Stretch the glove opening to allow you to pinch the glove on the inside. Pull the glove off, turning it inside out and keeping the first glove contained inside the second. Consider the gloves to be hazmat and dispose of securely.
- Use personal protection equipment. Full face shields, respirators, gloves, shoe covers can help keep the virus from reaching your inner clothes and skin.
- Designate an outbuilding at your home as a “decontamination space”. When you return home, take off all clothing which could potentially be contaminated (shoes, pants, shirts, jackets, hats, underclothing, etc.), sanitize your body (arms, hands, face, and any other part which may carry contagions) before dressing in fresh, clean cloths.
- Digitize your trim data and invoice. Email data rather than passing hard copies. If you do not have digital data tracking or digital invoicing, use your smart phone and send an image.
- Request payments via electronic payment. Avoid taking cash or checks as they may transmit the virus.
General Safe Practices
- Wash your hands.
- Avoid overuse of hand sanitizers. Use no more than necessary. They do kill off good bacteria that we all need to be healthy. Washing your hands for 20 seconds with hot, soapy water is better than using a hand sanitizer. Use hand sanitizers only when soap and hot water are unavailable.
- If you are sick, stay home.
- If possible, stay home.
- Avoid contact with immune-compromised individuals, the elderly and the very young as much as possible.
- Practice social distancing (6 feet or 2 meters apart) when necessary to be around others.
- Consider the vulnerability of those you live with. You could carry the virus in with you on items you bring into the house and infect others without actually infecting yourself.
- Isolate individuals who become sick or have reason to believe they may have been infected.
- Limit touching things to only what is necessary.
- Avoid taking paper items from others (receipts, papers, etc.)
- Avoid hoarding items. Other people need things to survive as well. Hoarding only feeds the general panic.