THE YEARS FOLLOWING INCORPORATION

Organizational Considerations

Meeting Pattern Changed

The original pattern for meetings was a summer session, usually held in the home state of one of the participants. In 1959 and the period thereafter, some planning meetings were held by Institute planners while attending the Farm Conference in Chicago. After NIFS was incorporated in 1962, what was termed the annual membership meeting was held each year in Chicago in conjunction with the Farm Conference and the Safety Conference. Institute business was considered a vital part of this meeting, and time was also reserved for professional improvement. What had been the summer meetings in the past were continued but with major emphasis on professional improvement.

Committee Structure

Program committees became a regular part of NIFS meetings and were established at some point after incorporation. (Before the advent of the NIFS program committee, half-day workshops had been held at summer Institutes on safety problems and issues of sufficient scope and importance to warrant discussion time.) The original program committees covered the following topic areas: tractor and farm machinery, fire and electricity, farm chemicals, rural traffic and emergency preparedness. Every member of NIFS was expected to serve on one of these program committees. These committees have been restructured somewhat over time to meet the changing needs of farm and home safety. The results of program committee discussion and subsequent recommendations were distributed in written form as a means of providing pertinent and timely safety program information to NIFS members.

New Member Orientation

New members of NIFS were invited to attend a special breakfast program at their first summer Institute. The purpose of this program was to give an official welcome to the new member and to provide an overview of the organization of NIFS, its mission and programs. New members were also given a member handbook containing orientation information and a brief history of the organization. This breakfast is still a vital part of new member orientation.

Recognition Program-The Maynard Coe Award

To encourage professionalism in farm and home safety, NIFS presents an achievement award in recognition of the important role played by Maynard Coe in the early years of the organization. Coe served as director of the Farm Division of the National Safety Council for 20 years, and in that capacity he enlisted the help of dedicated people in universities, farm organizations and agricultural industry in establishing farm safety as a recognized profession. From the beginning he was an inspiration to farm safety specialists and educators, giving them advice and encouragement. Later, when numbers increased, he urged them to form their own professional organization.

To encourage professionalism among farm safety leaders, Coe offered the directors of NIFS a $100 cash award for professional educational achievement in farm safety. The award was to be made annually if a worthy entry was presented. This award concept was adopted and NIFS assumed responsibility for selecting recipients and for payment of the award.

Between 1967 and 1994, the Maynard Coe award was presented to four individuals:

Professional Affiliations

The Farm Machinery and FIEI Affiliation

In March 1966 NIFS and the Farm and Industrial Equipment Institute co-sponsored a seminar that brought together the professional farm safety workers and the engineers representing all of the major agricultural machinery manufacturers. The seminar did much to acquaint each of these groups with the problems and goals of the other. The specific purpose of this seminar was to pool the available information on the status of power takeoff guarding and rollover protection so that practical progress goals could be agreed on and established. FIEI, now the Equipment Manufacturers Institute (EMI), continues to have an affiliation with NIFS, thus providing coordination of joint program efforts and a forum for discussion of current and future issues of mutual concern.

American Society of Agricultural Engineers

Many members of NIFS are agricultural engineers and thus hold membership in the ASAE. This dual membership had led to a fine relationship, and cooperation between the two organizations has been evident on a variety of projects, activities and events. The technical engineering aspects of ASAE brought a new and different professional dimension into NIFS. Over the years, NIFS has recognized the value of the Cooperative Standards Program sponsored by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE). From its inception, NIFS has continued to make a contribution to the program. In planning the dates of summer meetings for both organizations, a special effort was made to set dates that permitted those holding a dual membership to attend both sessions. This scheduling courtesy has continued to the present time.