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:

• Injuries were most common among children 10 to 14 years of age, followed by children five to nine years of age.
• Two thirds of the injured were boys.
• The three most frequent injuries were fractures/dislocations (29.2 per cent), cuts/lacerations/other wounds (21.7 per cent), and abrasions/bruises/inflammation (20.5 per cent).
• Less frequent but serious injuries were systemic (3.4 per cent), crushing (2.5 per cent), and multiple system trauma (1.6 per cent).
• Contributing factors were uneven terrain, equipment and machinery, and farm structures.
• Subsequent hospital admissions were very high at 26.9 per cent.

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.

• No riders! NO RIDERS! NO RIDERS!
• Young children must be supervised at all times!
• Post driveway warning signs to alert drivers to the fact that children could be playing in the area.
• Before moving equipment (especially when backing up), make sure that children are safe.
• Don't allow children to play with idle machinery.
• Leave hydraulic equipment (such as front-end loaders, 3-point implements, combine heads, etc.) in the "down" position.
• When tractors and self-propelled machines are parked, brakes should be locked and keys removed from the ignition.
• Always leave a tractor PTO [Power Takeoff] lever in the "neutral" position.
• Keep machinery in good repair. Pay particular attention to protective shielding, ROPS [Rollover Protective Structure] and seat belts.
• Safety training must be completed before children are allowed to operate machinery. A degree of supervision will continue to be needed until teens become experienced operators.
• Farm ponds and manure storage structures should be surrounded by child-proof fencing.
• Place fixed ladders out of reach, or fit them with a special barrier. Store portable ladders away from danger areas.
• Practise good housekeeping. Don't leave items lying around to create a tripping hazard. Heavy objects shouldn't be left leaning against walls or fences.
• Livestock facilities and operating machinery should be "off limits" to young children. Adult supervision is required at all times.
• Shield dangerous machinery components, electrical boxes, and wiring. Place out of reach of small children or fit with locking devices.
• Store pesticides and other dangerous chemicals in locked facilities.
• Place warning decals on all grain bins, silos, wagons and trucks.
• Don't start unloading grain from wagons or bins until you have double-checked that no one is inside.
• At regular intervals, set aside time for family safety instructions.

(Reprinted with permission from Ontario's Farm Safety Association [1995] Farmsafe [Spring] 20[2]:4)

This article first appeared in Interaction published by the Canadian Child Care Federation, Winter, 1996.

Posted by: the Canadian Child Care Federation, September 1996.

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