The Rural Voice, 2003-03, Page 18Spare the children
Everg gear too manb farm children are hurt or die in farm accidents. The
good news is that with extra care mang of these tragedies can be averted.
By Keith Roulston
Ah spring! The snow melts
and the ground dries up.
Spring flowers bloom
and farm machinery is rolled out
of the sheds, tuned up and
planting begins — and the most
dangerous time of the year for
farm children begins.
Farm life for children can be
a marvellous experience, but
farm kids are also exposed to far
more danger than kids in towns
and cities. Between 1990 and
1998, 176 children under the age
of 19 were killed in farm
accidents in Canada, and an
estimated 2,710 were
hospitalized for farm -related
injuries, according to the
Canadian Agricultural Injury
Surveillance Program (CAISP).
There's nothing sadder than
the death of a child at the hands
of machinery belonging to his or
her own parents but it happens
year after year. It's not surprising
really, when you consider
farmers are the only people
whose families live in an industrial
workplace.
"Children on farms are most
vulnerable to injury," says Dr. Will
Pickett, one of the investigators with
CAISP. "It is important that farming
parents make a concerted effort to
keep their children away from harm
until they can participate in farm
activities. It is the parents'
responsibility to ensure that all tasks
assigned to children are appropriate
to their age and capabilities."
That's easy for an academic to say
of course. Living on a farm is much
more complicated especially with the
dangerous combination of larger, and
more, machinery on farms at a time
when' one or both partners may also
be involved in an off -farm job.
What's more, the danger for
children begins long before they start
taking part in farm life. Children
under four were victims of 36 per
cent of farm accident deaths between
1990 and 1998 — a total of 64 young
lives snuffed out. Another 430
You can teach children the dangers of being
around machines as Blair Fraser did with these
children on his Walton -area farm.
children of that age group were
hospitalized in the same period.
The most frequent cause of death
and injury in that age group is
machinery run -overs. More than a
third of those incidents resulted in
deaths of the child.
Heartbreakingly, most children are
injured in "blind run -overs" where
the child is hit by a tractor or other
farm machine operated by a family
member who did not see the child.
A second danger for children of
this age is entanglement in machinery
that they are too young to be around
safely.
One of the pleasures of country
living is giving children the freedom
to roam over the many acres of a
farm but for young children, being
outside without constant vigilant
supervision can be deadly.
"Children need to be kept away
from farm activities, especially at a
young age when they do not have the
skills to assess danger," says Louise
Hagel of CAISP. "Fencing off
14 THE RURAL VOICE
dangerous areas or providing a
fenced play area are strategies
that could result in fewer
incidents involving young
children."
Of course young children
love to be around farm animals
but this is also a prominent
source of injuries, though this
type of accident is less likely to
prove fatal than machinery -
oriented injuries.
Because kids want to be
around animals, and because
they want to take part in the
farm activities, it's tempting to
give them small chores dealing
with animals. But basic tasks
involving larger farm animals
should not start before the age
of 10, warns CAISP. As well,
they should involve the
appropriate level of supervision
and should result in
responsibility increasing
gradually as the child grows
older.
"As parents increase their
child's involvement on the farm, it is
of the utmost importance that they
teach proper farm practices,
including safe handling of animals,"
says Pickett. "Doing so could result
in fewer children getting injured
while working with animals."
Animal -related injuries are highest
in the 10-19 age group though deaths
(there were 76 in that age between
1990 and 1998) occur commonly
from machinery -related incidences.
This age group makes up 41 per cent
of all fatal farm injuries to children
and 62 per cent of those injured badly
enough to be admitted to hospital.
For the in-between age, those 5-9,
the greatest number of injuries come
from non -machinery activities,
though tractor run -overs are still by
far the most important cause of death.
For this adventurous age group, the
most common cause of injuries
requiring hospitalization is falls from
heights. Everyone who grew up on a
farm can recall the wonderful
adventures of their youth found