Farming experts say educating kids on safety is crucial

LETHBRIDGE – The horrific tragedy that claimed the lives of three young girls near Withrow, Alta. has hit close to home for southern Alberta’s agricultural community.

Officials said the girls had been playing inside a truck while it was being filled with canola from a hopper, but it was unclear how they became submerged in the seed.

“The list thing you want to do is make anyone feel like they are being judged and make a family feel awful. They are already thinking, ‘was there something that we could have done different?’” said Laura Nelson, with the Farm Safety Centre.

Nelson is a provincial safety expert on farming and says it only takes seconds to become engulfed and buried in grain.

According to the Farm Safety Centre, the most common causes of farm-related deaths for children ages 14 and under between 2008 and 2013 was being run over by a machine, which accounted for 41.9 per cent of deaths. Drownings followed (15.2 per cent), then machine rollovers at 11.1 per cent. Animal-related deaths and being crushed under an object were less common, accounting for 6.5 per cent and 5.1 per cent, respectively.

Nelson says the most recent farm accident should remind rural communities of the importance of promoting safety for children living on farms. Many schools are turning to the Farm Safety Centre for guidance.

Sunny Side school is one school that uses the program, with 75 per cent of its students living on farms.

“They come in and have stories that are real and it resonates with kids. They have hands-on activities and the kids don’t forget that,” explained Ken Van Cleave, a teacher at Sunny Side.

The program began in southern Alberta and now there are eight instructors that travel across the province to 500 different schools.

“We all feel this at a personal level because these instructors see these children face-to-face in the schools each year,” added Nelson.

The Farm Safety Centre has been visiting schools to teach children in rural Alberta about staying safe on farms since 1997.