Safety is Job One
Dec 23, 2025
Written by Brent Colgrove, Tire Department Manager
Safety is job one.
Here at Farmers Cooperative, we believe that safety first is the best policy. What we mean by this is simple: we want every employee to go home safe and sound at the end of the day, without any injuries—large or small.
Every employee who works in a car care center or operates an on-the-farm tire service truck goes through a safety orientation on their first day on the job. This training takes place in a controlled environment where they learn the importance of proper personal protective equipment, including safety glasses, hearing protection, and heavy-soled leather work boots with a good non-slip sole. We also provide quality work gloves that are tailored to fit the job.
During orientation, employees are trained to safely and properly operate a wheel balancer, rim-clamp tire machine, and vehicle hoist. They also learn how to correctly patch a tire or tube and how to safely air up a tire and wheel assembly.
Before an employee is turned loose to work in a shop, they must demonstrate the ability to properly torque wheels on light trucks, passenger vehicles, and semi tractors or trailers. Once an employee is well trained on the job—or even if they come to us with years of experience—they are required to complete the TIA Level 200 OSHA-mandated Basic Commercial Tire Service class.
This is a two-day course that includes both classroom instruction and hands-on shop training. At the end of the second day, employees must pass a 50-question exam with a minimum score of 70% to become certified. We offer this training quarterly for new employees who have not yet taken the class.
We also utilize a specialized farm tire training program called Titan University in Des Moines, Iowa. This in-depth course helps our employees understand the safest ways to work on agricultural tires of all sizes and introduces new tools and procedures that make the job both easier and safer. We typically send two to three employees to this training each year.
All of this is done so you can be confident that when Farmers Cooperative works on your vehicle, the job is completed using the right procedures and the safest methods possible.