Increasing Our Awareness: Children's Safety on Farms
Life on the farm conjures up romantic images of wide open spaces, big blue skies, and glorious
sunrises and sunsets -- a peaceful life paced by the seasons. Yet farm life is far from idyllic. Farms
are workplaces filled with hundreds of potential risks: large, powerful machinery; watering holes;
unpredictable animals often weighing more than a 1,000 pounds each; pesticides; fertilizers; and
numerous buildings that are not child-safe.
Safety education must be a priority, not only for adults, but for farm children so that they can learn life-long safety habits. Many of these children are our future farmers.
Between 1983 and 1993, there was an average of more than two deaths every week on Canadian farms. Every year more farmers have disabling injuries than do miners or construction workers (Canadian Federation of Agriculture, et al., 1995). Fifty-five children have died from farm-related injuries over the past 10 years in Ontario alone. Sixty per cent of these fatalities were children under five years of age (Ontario's Farm Safety Association 1995, p. 1). While Canadian statistics are unavailable, in the United States more than 300 children are killed each year and 25,000 require medical care due to farm-related injuries (Rivara in Pickett et al., p. 3).
The Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) collects and analyzes injuries treated in emergency hospitals in 10 pediatric and five general hospitals in Canada. These are primarily urban hospitals that will likely treat only the more serious farm-related injuries while many others are cared for in their rural hospitals' emergency departments and not reported to CHIRPP. Yet, as of June 1994, CHIRPPs database search selected 438 reported farm-related injuries for individuals under 20 years of age. The data showed that:
To reduce injuries, we know that one of the first responsibilities is to reduce or eliminate potential
risks. If you think conducting regular indoor and outdoor safety checks of your centre is time
consuming can you imagine a farm?!
Farming is commonly a husband and wife operation, often demanding that both parents work at the same time rather than allowing one to care for the children while the other works on the farm. What options do farm parents have for their children? Sometimes the children are: supervised by an older sibling; left alone; supervised intermittently; kept with the working parent(s); or looked after by a relative or neighbour. Enroling farm children in child care programs, even if it's only during the peak seasons (i.e., birthing, seeding and harvesting), is an option. Or is it? Do farm families have access to affordable child care options, either seasonally or full-time?
Farm children are often given responsibilities. But are the assigned tasks developmentally appropriate? Do parents model safe behaviour? Are children taught how to perform the task and then closely monitored and supervised? Are children and parents dressed appropriately for the task (e.g., no loose clothing, long hair tied back, safety boots, protective eye wear, gloves)? Of all farm machinery, tractors are the leading cause of injury and death. Pickett, et al. (1995, 10-11) recommend that: children under 14 should be prohibited from driving tractors; all operators should be trained and licensed; and farm safety programs should be targeted at rural schools prior to summer holidays.
It is neither practical nor reasonable to place all the responsibility for farm-related injury prevention in the hands of the parents. As with any health promotion action plan, it will take the commitment of individuals, the community and society.
Written by Deborah Kernested, RN, Toronto, Ont. (Co-author of Healthy Foundations in Child Care with Barbara Pimento. Published by Nelson Canada.)
A Child Safety Checklist
The following list covers several of the most important threats to children's health and safety on the farm. It is by no means comprehensive, but can serve as a starting point for making your farm a safer place. Discuss the list, point by point, with your children. See who can come up with additional safety hazards. This exercise will help boost overall family safety awareness.
(Reprinted with permission from Ontario's Farm Safety Association [1995] Farmsafe [Spring]
20[2]:4)
How Does Safety Rate on Your Farm? (an eight-page checklist) and On the Farm, Children are at
Constant Risk. (Fact Sheet No. F-018) by Ontario's Farm Safety Association, 22-34 Woodlawn
Road, W., Guelph, Ontario, N1H 7K6.
Contacts:
Bruce Johnson, Farm and Ranch Safety and Health Association, 102-5755 Glover Road, Langley,
British Columbia, V3A 8H4. Phone: (604) 532-1789.
Solomon, Kyeremanteng, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Farm Safety
Program, 201, 7000-113 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, T6H 5T6. Phone: (403) 427-2186.
Monica Zasada, Saskatchewan Safety Council, 445 Hoffer Drive, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4N
6E2. Phone: (306) 757-3197.
Cathy Vanstone, Portage Agricultural Representative Office, 25 Tupper Street, N., Portage La
Prairie, Manitoba, R1N 3K1. Phone: (204) 239-3354.
Steve Zronik, Farm Safety Association Inc., 22-34 Woodlawn Road, W., Guelph, Ontario, N1H
7K6. Phone: (519) 823-5600.
Helene Varvaressos, Union des Producteurs Agricole, 555 Boulevard Roland Therrien, Longueuil,
Quebec, J4H 3Y9. Phone: (514) 679-0530.
New Brunswick Federation of Agriculture, 1115 Regent Street, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B
3X2. Phone: (506) 452-8101.
George Mackenzie, Department of Agriculture and Marketing, PO Box 550, Truro, Nova Scotia.
Phone: (902) 893-6589.
Crystal McDonald, PEI Federation of Agriculture, 420 University Avenue, Charlottetown, Prince
Edward Island, C1A 7Z5. Phone: (902) 892-6913.
Yvonne Rideout, Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture, 871 Topsail Road, PO
Box 1045, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, A1N 3C9. Phone: (709) 747-4874.
References
Canadian Federation of Agriculture, et al. (1995) Take the Challenge. Ottawa: Canada Safety
Council. (media package)
Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (1995) Farm Injuries to Children: As
of June 1994. Health Canada. (correspondence)
Ontario's Farm Safety Association (1995) Farmsafe (Spring) 20(2):4-5.
Ontario's Farm Safety Association (1995), On the Farm, Children are at Constant Risk, Fact Sheet
No. F-018.
Pickett, W., R.J. Brison, and J.R. Hoey. (1995) "Fatal and Hospitalized Agricultural Machinery
Injuries to Children in Ontario, Canada," Injury Prevention.
Resources
This article first appeared in Interaction published by the Canadian Child Care Federation, Winter, 1996. |
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