Twenty-three children lost their lives in farm accidents between 2007 and 2016. Of this, 70% of the fatal accidents involved tractors or other farm machinery. In response Cork County Council is running a farm safety initiative aimed at raising children’s awareness of the dangers on farms.
Twenty-three children lost their lives in farm accidents between 2007 and 2016. Of this, 70% of the fatal accidents involved tractors or other farm machinery.
In response Cork County Council is running a farm safety initiative aimed at raising children’s awareness of the dangers on farms.
Caroline Casey is water and road safety development officer with Cork County Council and she began running water and road safety programmes for schools.
Not long after these began, she realised there were many similarities between road and water safety and farm safety.
“When we started this in 2015 there were too many crossovers from farming,” she told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“You have water and machinery on the farm, as well as other hazards. Within the first six months we added the farm safety element and began holding farm safety days.”
Think before you act
There is an element of risk assessment incorporated into the safety days, helping children to spot hazards and work out how to deal with them. The aim of the initiative is to encourage all the children to think before they act.
“When we are teaching them we take the coaching approach,” said Casey.
“What I mean by that is we encourage them to think for themselves. When I am showing them how to throw a life buoy, I might ask how they might throw it first, rather than showing them and spoon feeding them.”
All schools that participate get books and games based on farm, road and water safety.
“We find that they can learn through instruction but they can also earn through play so the board games come in very handy. We also appoint a junior safety officer in each school,” she added.
Since the programme’s inception, almost 15,000 children have gone through some form of safety training.
Six to eight free safety events are held annually for Cork primary schools. These are held at Tir Na Si open farm, Watergrasshill.
“Having it on an open farm is fantastic. All the hazards are here but here in a safe way.”
The safety day is made up of three components. A talk from a member of the emergency services, a safety walk of the Tir na Si farm and an indoor session on farm, road and water safety.
Padraig Higgins, EMBRACE FARM, Caroline Casey, water and road safety development officer, Cork County Council, Declan Hurley, Mayor of Cork County Council, which runs water and road safety programmes for schools. Tommy Moyles
Casey is aided in this by Cathal McCarthy, education officer with the Road Safety Authority, and Padraig Higgins of EMBRACE Ireland.
Higgins tells the students about the tragic loss of his son, James, in a farm accident in 2008. The message he keeps putting out there is that farms are not a playground and children need to be supervised at all times.
Casey is hopeful that raising awareness at a younger age may help make farms a safer place.
“The difficulty with farming is when you are familiar with something, you may not see a danger that is staring you straight in the face.
“They leave these days with information that is vital. The children might go back home and say we learned that at the farm safety day and hopefully into the future this will have a positive outcome.”
Safety feeds into the social, personal and health education (SPHE) programme in schools and, while more could always be done, resources such as time and money are a limiting factor.
“It would be great if safety was covered on a weekly basis, but the school curriculum is fairly packed and teachers are under enough pressure to get through that.”
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