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TLE
AGRICULTURAL
CROP
PRODUCTION
Quarter 3 – Module 5 and 6
Safe Work Practices
and Proper Use of Nursery
Tools and Equipment
Week 5 and 6
 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you master
the nature of Agri- crop Production. The scope of this module permits it to be used
in many different learning situations. The language used recognizes the diverse
vocabulary level of students. The lessons are arranged to follow the standard
sequence of the course. But the order in which you read them can be changed to
correspond with the textbook you are now using.

The module is divided into two lessons, namely:

Lesson 1- Safe work practices and proper use of nursery tools and equipment.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. identify the uses of nursery tools and equipment,
2. follow the different ways of safe work practices in the nursery, and
3. perform the proper use of specific nursery tools and equipment.

What I Know

Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer. Do not write your answer in this
manual. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of paper.

1. The following are ways to improve nursery workplace safety through

equipment handling EXCEPT:
A. Training your staff on the proper usage of nursery equipment
B. Take reasonable care for his or her own health and safety
C. Utilizing the right tools and equipment for the right task
D. Reduce or eliminate equipment handling risk
2. A systematic method of checking work activities and studying where things
could go wrong in the workplace.
A. Risk management C. Hazard Management
B. Risk assessment D. Occupational Health and Safety
3. Who will provide the staff with personal safety equipment like gloves, hats,
sunscreen etc. for use while working if the danger/risk cannot be removed?
A. Employer C. Government
B. Employees D. Health officer
4. It is considered as the most important tool for a propagator or a
nurseryman.
A. Secateurs C. Cultivator
B. Knife D. Sickle
5. It is used for breaking of soil clods and separation of medium size soil
during preparation of nursery beds or fields.
A. Garden fork C. Crowbar
B. Weeding fork D. Spade

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 6. The following are the duties of workers for nursery equipment handling
EXCEPT:
A. Take responsible care of his own health and safety
B. Take reasonable care that his or her acts or omissions do not
adversely affect the health and safety of other persons
C. Cooperate with any reasonable policy or procedure of the person
conducting the business or understanding relating to health or safety
at the workplace that has been notified to workers
D. Reduce or eliminate equipment handling risk
7. It is manually operated by a small trolly, used for carrying nursery plants,
compost, fertilizers, leaf litter, horticultural produce, stones, etc. from one
place to another place.
A. Disc harrow C. Axe
B. Bill hook D. Wheelbarrow
8. It is used for cutting grass and leafy vegetables.
A. Bill hook C. Sickle
B. Knife D. Axe
9. It is used for felling trees and cutting branches.
A. Bill hook C. Axe
B. Sickle D. Knife
10. A way to improve nursery workplace safety through equipment handling in
which personal protective equipment should be provided at hand to reduce
risks such as noise and hazardous substances.
A. Training your staff on the proper usage of nursery equipment
B. Utilizing the right tools and equipment for the right task
C. Reduce or eliminate equipment handling risk
D. Provide maintenance and inspection on the equipment

Lesson Safe Work Practices

1 and Proper Use of
Nursery Tools and
Equipment

What’s In

Unsafe workplaces can be a burden to your workers and the families involved. Any
injuries, sufferings or death can massively reduce productivity, reputation and
competitiveness of your nursery business. Not to mention increased annual Workers
Compensation Insurance for 3 years.

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 What’s New

Duties of workers for nursery equipment handling

While at work, a worker should:

● Take reasonable care for his or her own health and safety
● Take reasonable care that his or her acts or omissions do not adversely affect
the health and safety of other persons and
● Comply, so far as the worker is reasonable, with any reasonable instruction
that is given by the person conducting the business or undertaking to allow the
person to comply with the Act and
● Cooperate with any reasonable policy or procedure of the person conducting the
business or understanding relating to health or safety at the workplace that has
been notified to workers
Duties of employers for nursery equipment handling
As employers, you are also required to follow the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
Under the Act, it is your duty to ensure the health and safety of your workers. You
are required to train your workers and carry out a Competency Assessment before
they operate any nursery equipment.

What is It

4 Ways to Improve Nursery Workplace Safety Through Equipment

Handling

1. Training your staff on the proper usage of nursery equipment

Lack of information, training and experience on how to handle nursery equipment
is one of the main causes of injuries at the workplace. Thus, conducting regular
training on the safe usage of nursery equipment is necessary. It takes some effort to
change people’s habits. Toolbox meetings are ideal for regular short training
sessions. Make sure you record who is in attendance as proof of training.

Working together and communicating with staff regularly reduces incidents and
improves safety at the workplace. Every worker must be provided with proper
training and instructions on how to operate nursery equipment. In this way, staff
especially new starters or juniors know how to avoid any potential accidents when
using equipment. Good initial training will save money over the years and set the
right WH&S culture in the workplace.

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 Workers should be made aware of the physical and environmental hazards
equipment and the environment may cause.

2. Utilizing the right tools and equipment for the right task
A guide entitled Machinery and Equipment Safety – An Introduction (1st
Edition) provides key principles of machinery and equipment safety. When utilizing
a machine and equipment, you should think about how, who, when and what:

● who will be working on or around the machinery and equipment?

● will people be required to work in enclosed areas where the atmosphere could
be harmful, such as pits, tanks or storage vessels?
● what equipment or materials need to be readily available or carried to
undertake the task?
● where and when access is required for maintenance and cleaning?
● how will people gain safe access (walkway, gantry, elevated work platform or
ladder)?
● what work will be carried out?
● are the noise levels of concern?
● will people be near or exposed to an unidentified mechanical or non-mechanical
hazard at the time of access, entanglement, crushing or sharp objects a
problem?
● has consultation occurred with employees or contractors regarding how they
intend to undertake their contracted task, and what equipment will be needed
to best suit the task at hand?
● Has contractor’s equipment been approved and meets standards? Will you
know if they are on site?

Staff should be provided with suitable equipment for the job they do. Nursery equipment
should have a good ergonomic design to ensure staff’s easy use and short- and long-
term safety. Employers should provide staff with personal safety equipment like gloves,
hats, sunscreen etc. for use while working if the danger/risk cannot be removed.

3. Provide maintenance and inspection on the equipment

In NSW, SafeWork NSW inspectors can conduct assessments and provide methods
on how to resolve equipment problems in your workplace. They are responsible
for inspecting and ensuring if workplace (including the equipment) used is safe for
everybody.

Before using any equipment in the nursery, workers should make sure that:

● The machine is in good working condition.

● It has proper guarding on moving parts. Too often guards are removed.
● How much tape, string and wire is holding the machine together? Remove and
fix properly.
● Warning devices and emergency stop controls are in place, working and can be
accessed easily. Do you have a reporting or NCR system to record issues?
● Operators should be trained and have work cover cards for specialized
equipment and processes e.g. forklift, bobcat, chemical spraying, confined
spaces etc. Training Register must be kept up to date, always a challenge if
correct procedures are not in place.
● Manufacturer’s instructions and guide should be readily available and followed.
● The equipment should be maintained according to the manufacturer’s
specifications, obviously!

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 4. Reduce or eliminate equipment handling risks
Any risks caused by usage of nursery equipment should be reduced or
eliminated. System controls, warning devices, and protective devices should be
all functioning well. Emergency stop controls on equipment should also be easily
identified and accessible.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) should be provided and at hand to reduce

risks such as noise and hazardous substances.

Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is a systematic method of checking work activities and

studying where things could go wrong in the workplace. Helps with deciding what
safety measures should be applied to avoid any injuries. Risk assessments are
generally required for all businesses and industries. Regular risk assessments
will improve your business in many ways.

Proper Use of Nursery Tools and Equipment

For carrying out day-to-day routine cultural operations in the nursery, various tools,
implements and accessories are required. Some tools are simple and are used for simple
operations, whereas for carrying out specific operations, special types of equipment are
required. These are listed and briefly described hereunder:

Tools for land preparation and other basic works

1. Kudali: It is a simple but important tool used for digging of soil, pits or any basic
digging work prior to preparation of nursery beds. It has a metal (iron) blade attached
to a wooden handle. It is operated manually.

2. Garden fork: Garden fork is used for breaking of soil clods and separation of
medium size soil during preparation of nursery bed or fields.

3. Weeding fork: It loosens the soil and helps in weeding also. It consists of a long
handle with a blade of handle teeth. It is drawn manually with the help of a handle to
collect the weeds and cops of plants etc.

4. Crow bar: It is an iron rod with one end pointed and other as a wedge shaped. It is
used for digging out large or hand boulders from the soil and digging of pits. It is also
used for breaking hard soil pan.

5. Shovel: It has iron blade of spoon shape and wooden handle and is used for
within field transport of dug out soil required for leveling of field for preparation of
nursery beds.

6. Pickaxe: It is made of carbon steel. Pickaxe has two edges with provision of axial
hole for attachment with handle. One edge of the pickaxe is pointed, and another is
broadened. Pickaxe is used for digging hard, compact and stony soils.

7. Spade: It is used for lifting and turning the soil. Also used for digging the pit,
preparing channels for irrigation and drainage lines.

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8. Hoe-cum-Rake: It is of rectangular shape metal blade with fork like fore edge. It is
used for digging, hoeing, earthing, leveling and collecting weeds.

9. Furrow opener: It is used for opening narrow and shallow furrow after sowing
seeds in nursery.

10. Hand leveler: It consists of narrow rectangular metal blade attached to long
wooden handle.

11. Trowel (Khurpi): It is of shovel shape but small in size with iron blade and
wooden handle. It can be made in many shapes as per local designs and
requirements. It is used for hoeing, weeding and nursery plants and also for
transplanting seedlings.

12. Axe: Iron blade, fastened to wooden handle. It is used for felling trees and cutting
branches.

13. Bill Hook (Darat): It is made of iron curved at the far end or used for cutting
hardy branches of plant and other woody shrubs in the field.

14. Sickle: It is used for cutting grass and leafy vegetables.

15. Wheel-Barrow: It is manually operated small trolly, used for carrying nursery
plants, compost, fertilizes, leaf litter, horticultural produce, stones etc. from one place
to another place. It can be designed into different shapes according to requirement.

16. Cultivator: It is a tractor drawn implement used for tilling the soil efficiently. It
has types of quality carbon comprising different sizes depending upon the plough
depth. These days, hand driven small cultivators are more popular. It can plough up
to ½ to 1 feet deep.

17. Disc harrow: It is used for pulverizing the soil. It is also used for turning crop
residues, weeds and other debris in the soil. It is used for deep ploughing and turning
of soil.

18. Knife: Knives having combined blade for grafting and budding purposes. A
grafting/budding knife has a straight 7.5cm long blade and strong long handle. It has
a spatula at the end of a handle, which is used for lifting the bark during budding
operation. Sometimes a knife has two parallel double blades, used specially for lifting
or removing the patch of a bud from the budwood. Generally, these knives have
either a folding or fixed blade. The blade of the knife should be made from high
carbon steel and should always be very sharp.

19. Secateurs: Secateurs are considered as the most important tool for a propagator
or a nurseryman. It is used for removing scions, lopping off the rootstock,
preparation of scion sticks, removal of undesirable shoots/sprouts from the stock

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and training and pruning operations. The blades of secateurs should be of high -
quality carbon blade for giving smooth cuts to the stock and scions.

20. Grafting machines: Many machines have been developed and commercially
used for the preparation of scion sticks and bud wood for budding and grafting
operation in many developed countries. However, these machines are not very
common in India.

21. Pruning saw: Several types of saws are required for performing different
operations involved in propagation of horticultural plants. The commonly used are
crescent saws, tapered saws and straight saws. All of them have long and widely set
teeth to facilitate pruning or cutting of green wood. Its blades should be narrow so
that it can pass through the narrow or closely spaced branches

22. Ladders: In propagation work, ladder is required for operations like cutting of
bud wood, training of vigorous plants, performing layering operations and top
working of declining plants. In general, step ladder or straight ladder or hook ladders
are used for such operations in the field of propagation.

23. Tying and wrapping materials: It is essential to hold scion and stock firmly
together to have successful graft/bud union. For this purpose, a suitable tying or
wrapping material is required. Generally, polyethylene tapes/strips, waxed string
and cloth, raffia fibro and rubber strips are used for this purpose. In addition,
adhesive tapes similar to surgical adhesive tapes but lighter in weight are also used
by commercial nursery men.

24. Grafting wax: Wax is used by propagator to seal the graft union for preventing
moisture loss and desiccation of cells at cut surface and to prevent the decay of wood
by way of checking the entry of pathogens. Waxes are of two types: i) Hot wax ii) Cold
wax.

25. Labels: Labels are used for proper labeling of plants, before sale. Labels may be
made of paper, cardboard, wooden, celluloid, aluminum and plastic etc.

26. Pots: Pots of different shapes and sizes are used in nursery. They may be clay,
metal or plastic usually 10cm, 15cm or 20cm for a single specimen. Pots are of
different types, tube pots, ¼ size,1/2 size,3/4 size and full size, thali and urn
(Fig.16.7). These are used for potting ornamental plants, fruit plants, saplings etc.
Iron pots/ plastic pots are used for irrigation purposes also.

27.Spray-pumps: To spray protective material i.e.

insecticides/pesticides/fungicides to eliminate the infection of pathogens or insects,
spray pumps are very important tools. Pumps are of different shapes, sizes and types.
Commonly used sprays are knap-sack sprayer, rocker sprayer, foot sprayer, hand
sprayers or power sprayers. Depending upon the volume of nursery and specific
purpose different types of sprayers are put in operation.

28. Chain saw: It operates using fuel (petrol/kerosene). It aids in cut wood logs of
bigger size and lopping of branches and shoots (Fig.16.10).
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29. Chain weeder: It is operated by petrol/diesel/kerosene. It is used to slash the
weeds on a large scale.

30. Rose can: A tubular pipe with rose i.e. fitted into the can through which water
is sprinkled over the nursery beds until the germination of seeds and to avoid
splashing of seeds from the nursery beds due to loose pipe irrigation and flood
irrigation.

31. Iron pan: It is made of iron and used for transporting pot mixtures, potted plants
through head load from one place to another for short distance.

32. Hose pipe: This is available in convenient length. Irrigation to nursery plants is
made possible to any extent.

33. Pruning shear: It is made of iron fitted with wooden handle. It is used to prune
unwanted branches, collection of scion, trimming of the edges and hedges and
topiary work.

34. Scythe: It is long knifed, fitted with wooden handle. It is used for slashing weeds.

What’s More

1. What are the duties of workers for nursery equipment handling?

2. What are the four ways to improve nursery workplace safety through
equipment handling?
3. Give the function of the following:
3.1. Chain saw
3.2. Chain weeder
3.3. Grafting machines

What I Have Learned

As employers, your staff’s safety should be one of your priorities. Moreover,

proper handling and maintenance of nursery equipment can also mean a safe
and healthy workplace. This can lead to a productive and better working
environment and experience for everyone including your customers.

Each tool is precisely designed for a specific purpose, so choosing the correct
tool will also decrease the amount of effort required to get
a job done right without causing damage to either the equipment or the surface
being worked on.
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 What I Can Do

At home, choose one tool to perform the proper use of tools based on the given
uses/ function above (wear PPE while performing this task). Make a video while
performing the task.
You will be rated according to the rubric below:

Rubrics:
Proper use of the tool - 25%
Wearing of PPE while performing - 15%
Presentation - 10%
Total 50%

Assessment

I. IDENTIFICATION:
Directions: Identify the following tools according to their uses/ function. Use a
separate sheet of paper to answer this test. Do not forget to write the following:

Name: _____________________________________ Grade and Section: _______________

Module No. & Title: _____________________________ Activity: ______________________

______________________1. It is used for turning crop residues, weeds and other debris
in the soil.
______________________ 2. It is used for removing scions, lopping off the rootstock,
preparation of scion sticks, removal of undesirable shoots/ sprouts from the stock
and training and pruning operations.
______________________ 3. It is used to slash the weeds on a large scale.
______________________ 4. It is used by propagators to seal the graft union for
preventing moisture loss and desiccation of cells at the cut surface and to prevent the
decay of wood by way of checking the entry of pathogens.
______________________ 5. It is used for digging, hoeing, earthing, leveling and
collecting weeds.
______________________ 6. It is used for slashing weeds.
______________________ 7. It is used to prune unwanted branches, collection of scions,
trimming of the edges and hedges of topiary work.
______________________ 8. It is used for proper labeling of plants before sale.
______________________ 9. These are used for potting ornamental plants, fruit plants,
sapling, etc.
______________________ 10. It is used to hold scion and stock firmly together to have a
successful graft/ bud union.
______________________ 11. It is used for digging out large and hand boulders from the
soil and digging pits.

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______________________ 12. It is used for hoeing, weeding and nursery plants and also
for transplanting seedlings.
______________________ 13. It is used for opening narrow and shallow furrow after
sowing seeds in nursery.
______________________ 14. A tubular with rose fitted into the can through which water
is sprinkled over the nursery beds until the germination of seeds and to avoid
splashing of seeds from the nursery beds due to loose pipe irrigation and flood
irrigation.
______________________ 15. It is required for operations like cutting of bud wood,
training of vigorous plants, performing layering operations and top working of
declining plants.

Answer Key

What I Know Assessment

1. B 1. Disc harrow
2. B 2. Secateurs
3. A 3. Chain weeder
4. A 4. Grafting wax
5. A 5. Hoe- cum- rake
6. D 6. Scythe
7. D 7. Pruning shear
8. C 8. Labels
9. C 9. Pots
10. C 10. Tying and wrapping
materials
11. Crowbar
12. Trowel
13. Furrow opener
14. Rose can
15. Ladder

References
https://www.cmac.com.au/blog/ways-improve-nursery-workplace-safety-
equipment-handling
http://ecoursesonline.iasri.res.in/mod/page/view.php?id=96871

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