RAYMOND, Alta. – When it comes to teaching farmers about safety, a gentle reminder is more effective than a bombardment of grisly scenes showing mangled bodies.
That’s part of the thinking behind the North American Farm Safety and Environmental Centre which opened here June 6.
Information and statistics are available but education will be emphasized.
“We don’t want to be seen as people lecturing you,” said Blaine Greenwood, director of the centre. “Most people have the knowledge already inside them. It’s just resensitizing them and making them aware one more time.”
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The centre was on the drawing board for several years and opened as a single building with thematic displays of safety and environmental concerns. The messages are informative and low key so people can make their own decisions about their behavior, said program director Michelle Atwood.
The centre is the only one of its kind in North America, and it has some lofty goals. The main one is to establish programs devoted to safety and care of the environment.
A second goal is to build a small farm community within the town of Raymond on the five-acre centre site. It plans a farm yard with a machine display, granaries, barn, water courses, railroad tracks and a typical farm home. Organizers want the centre to interest rural and urban people to show that safety is everyone’s business.
Besides showing where physical danger lies, a component will be devoted to farm stress, which can lead to accidents or suicide.
This summer the centre offers children’s day camps with a safety theme. Most farm accidents involve children or people over 55, said Greenwood.
The centre also wants to be an advocate for farmers who complain about safety problems on machinery, like awkward power takeoff covers that are easier to remove than work around.
“We’re trying to get the message out there to run a safer operation. They’re telling us they can’t do it,” said Greenwood.
By talking with machine companies, practical suggestions from farmers for improved implement designs could be delivered by the centre to manufacturers.
Greenwood sees the centre as a work in progress that will take years to complete. It is relying on Alberta Agriculture’s farm safety division for resources and help, and is gathering information from across North America.
The centre already has a website on the internet with information about upcoming events and features on safety.
