Safe at home
John Schlageck
Monday, September 10, 2007
T he dream of many young farm children is to ride with their fathers on a tractor. For a youngster, the mammoth tractor epitomizes raw power, responsibility and coming of age.
Nothing is more exciting to youngsters than the belch of diesel smoke, the roar of engines and rubber wheels rolling on powerful tractors, combines or silage cutters. They draw children like a moth to a flame and, like fire, can be dangerous. Such equipment can cut, crush or trap children. It holds potential harm for the ones we want to protect the most — our children.
Safety experts label agriculture one of the most hazardous occupations, and farm children are routinely exposed to the same hazards as their parents who work the farm. Each year, hundreds of children are killed and thousands more are injured in farm-related incidents, according to National Safety Council statistics. This year’s theme for Farm Safety and Health Week is “It’s easier to bury a tradition than a child,” emphasizes the importance of keeping our youngest farmers safe. The week of Sept.16-22 is dedicated to heightening the awareness of farm and ranch safety, and keeping our next generation of farmers safe and healthy.
Education and awareness are the key ingredients to help make the farm a safer place for children to play, says Holly Higgins, Kansas Farm Bureau safety and ag education director. Brushing up on some of the potential hazards also can make it safer for parents:
• Never invite your children to
ride in the tractor with you. Stress your youngsters stay away from machinery. Never let them play or hide under or around machinery like tractors.
• While you’re visiting with your youngsters about the farm, don’t forget to stress the importance of farming to the U.S. economy and the food supply for Americans and our export customers. Make sure you include the positive aspects of farming with the possible hazards.
• Describe to children how horses can be fun to ride. Talk about how lambs and baby calves can be pleasurable to pet or feed. Remind them that while animals are fun to be around they can also bite, trample and stomp.
• Discuss with your youngsters the signs that show an animal may be dangerous. Some of them include pawing the ground, snorting, raised hair and ears laid back.
• Animals — even friendly ones — can be unpredictable. Have your children stay away from large ones. Emphasize that they should stay away from animals with newborn or young. Tell them to remain calm, speak quietly and move slowly when around animals.
• While barns, grain handling facilities and big buildings can be fun to play in, falls can occur or children may be exposed to harmful substances like chemicals and electricity.
• Remember, it is important that youngsters have a safe place to play. Ask them to identify safe
play areas. Talk about areas away from farm machinery, animals, manure pits, silos, etc. Carefully define safe boundaries. Let them know where they can and cannot play.
• Wideopen spaces also provide children with ideal playgrounds. But this isolation may also lead to difficulty finding help in the event of an emergency.
• Explain the dangers associated with stored grain. Stress the principles that grain can entrap a person almost immediately. Children should never play around or in grain that is stored in bins, trucks or wagons. Emphasize that it is difficult or can be impossible to pull even a child out of grain if he/she becomes trapped.
As I a child, I can remember tossing a lasso around the grain auger and climbing into the grain bin of our combine. At the age of five, this giant silver machine symbolized the far away Rocky Mountains and I was scaling their peaks like my legendary hero, Jim Bridger.
Kids love adventure and exploration. It’s what they do. It’s what they live for.
• John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion.