You’ve probably said it yourself — a farm is THE place to raise kids. All that open space. All that fresh air. All those machines, animals, chemicals, dugouts, confined spaces and over-busy moms and dads.
Sure a Canadian farm can be a great place to grow up. But from 1990 and 2005, over 200 children lost their chance. Data from the Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program (CAISP) show 217 agricultural fatalities among children and youth aged 14 and under for the 16-year period. Almost half of these children were under five years old and three out of four were boys.
Read Also
Producers wrestle over organic standards draft
Organic farmers had until late July to comment on proposed new Canadian standards that would open the door to products such as municipally-derived struvite fertilizer — but would also crack down on lapses in organic management.
There’s much to do. But the good news is there’s a growing number of parents and community members who are working harder than ever to keep farm kids safe.
Many more parents are supervising their pre-schoolers closely and constantly whenever they are outside the farm home and more often, they’re keeping their kids within safe, fenced-in play areas. More communities are voluntarily working together to provide effective farm safety education for young people, in particular through Progressive Agriculture Safety Days that CASA co-ordinates across the country.
There is one more safety day on the Prairies for this summer. It’s August 14 in Fairview, Alta. Eastern Canada has a few more. For the complete list of safety days, visit the website at www.casa-acsa.ca/english/safetydays.html
Thanks to the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association for providing this farm safety tip. Look for another tip in your next Grainews.
