One Minute Could Save a Life: PAUSE INSPECT PROTECT

How One Indiana Family Is Changing Farm Safety

After unimaginable loss, the Maverick Minute Foundation is helping farm families make one simple habit part of every workday. It’s the story on how one family's grief is becoming a movement that could save lives in rural communities across Indiana and beyond.

"Take a Maverick Minute." Those four words were texted by Maverick's great-grandfather, Charlie Fox, to a friend just days after the June 23, 2025, farm accident that claimed the lives of four-year-old Maverick Flinn and his great-grandmother, Nancy Fox, near Seymour, Indiana.

Those words inspired a nonprofit foundation that is now reaching farmers across the country with one simple message: pause for a minute before every task.

This is about much more than a tragic accident.

Many people outside agriculture don't realize farming consistently ranks among the most dangerous occupations in the United States, with fatality rates significantly higher than the national average for all industries. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that agriculture’s fatality rate can be seven times higher than the national average for all workers.

Tractor rollovers, machinery entanglements, transportation incidents and grain bin accidents remain among the leading causes of death. Older workers are particularly vulnerable; in 2022, over half of agricultural fatalities occurred among workers 55 years or older. There are also over 200,000 serious injuries on farms annually in America.

Youth are at risk as well; children living or working on farms can experience daily agricultural accidents, with an estimated 33 youth injured per day in the U.S.

While modern equipment has increased productivity, busy planting and harvest seasons often involve long hours, fatigue, distractions and time pressure. These are all conditions that increase the chance of tragedy.

Instead of creating another list of safety rules, the Maverick Minute Foundation focuses on changing habits through three simple steps:

PAUSE – Take a breath. Be present.

INSPECT – Look around. Check equipment, blind spots and surroundings.

PROTECT – Make certain everyone is clear before moving.

Compare it to automatically checking mirrors before changing lanes, or fastening a seat belt before driving away. The goal is making a "Maverick Minute" just as automatic before operating farm equipment.

Unlike many safety campaigns aimed only at adults, Maverick Minute is also working with FFA chapters and youth organizations. Young people are leading safety campaigns in their own communities, encouraging conversations between generations and reminding even experienced farmers that routine can sometimes become the greatest risk.

The 2026 National Farm Safety and Health Week, with the theme Safety Today, Success Tomorrow will be observed September 21-25. The conference will include nationwide educational programs, free webinars at the AgriSafe Network website, and discussions encouraging safer practices on farms.

One presentation focuses specifically on how personal stories can inspire safer decisions - a philosophy that closely reflects the Maverick Minute Foundation's mission of transforming loss into awareness.

Stephanie Flinn, who lost her grandson and mother, and is the founder of the Maverick Minute Foundation, shared, “We're learning that everyone who is a farmer or associated with the farming community has a story. We're preparing a place for them to share their experience alongside ours to increase awareness and safety.”

Every farmer knows there will always be weather to beat, crops to plant, and work waiting to be done. The Maverick Minute Foundation isn't asking anyone to slow down forever. It's just asking everyone to slow down for sixty seconds.

Because sometimes one minute is all it takes to notice a child nearby, spot a blind spot, untangle a hazard or avoid a decision made in haste.

For one Indiana family, those sixty seconds have become a mission and they hope that taking a Maverick Minute will one day become as much a part of farming as climbing into the tractor itself.

PAUSE, INSPECT, PROTECT can save a life.

The foundation’s website is MaverickMinute.org. You can go to the menu to see how to Participate and get stickers, make a donation and get more information.