Day Camps Foster Farm Safety Awareness Among Children

Tuesday, 27 July 04

Safety camps are an important vehicle for fostering awareness among children in farm safety, an international farm safety conference has been told.

Professor Debbie Reed From the Centre for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention at the University of Kentucky told the Teagasc- run conference in Dublin that children in the US who attended a one day camp were much more aware of the safety risks in farming.

“The children also shared the information with their parents and, as a result, many parents made adjustments to improve safety on their farms”, she said.

The study, which assessed the impact of day camps over a three-year period, also found that children who did not live on a farm gained more safety knowledge than farm-resident children.

Professor Reed also reported on a study of rural adolescents in Kentucky. The majority of those in the study engaged in risky behaviour, with 80% operating quad bikes and almost 60% using a gun for hunting.

The study also found that 35% of the rural adolescents displayed depressive symptoms, highlighting the need for programmes to improve mental well-being and safety.

Dr Dermot Ruane of the UCD Faculty of Agriculture said a recent Teagasc/UCD survey among Irish farmers showed that farm operators who have suffered a farm accident have 15% less income and are two and a half times less likely to have off-farm employment. On the 4% of farms where the farm accident resulted in a major impact on the farm business, the survey found that farm income levels had dropped by one-third.

The Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Authority, Tom Beegan, outlined details of the new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill, which proposes ‘on the spot’ fines for farmers in breach of the law.

He said such ‘on the spot’ fines may well be introduced for serious safety hazards such as unfenced slurry pits and unguarded machinery.