It took about 20 hours of work for 12-year-old Gert Roelofsen to win the Rural Safety Sense DVD Contest organized by the Alberta Farm Safety Centre.
The Orton, Alta., resident watched a series of nine DVDs on various farm safety topics, wrote nine knowledge assessment tests and ended up winning a quad ATV for his efforts.
The prize came with a full complement of safety equipment, which he said he plans to use.
“I’m going to wear it. And my dad said ‘whenever you drive that machine you’re going to wear that safety equipment’ and I said, you’re right.”
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Beyond ATV safety, Roelofsen said he learned much about farm safety and would recommend the DVD series, which is available at no cost from the farm safety centre, to both children and adults.
“Things can be so extremely dangerous. For example, if you have a combine, there’s parts that pinch and roll and they could take you and they could kill you in a couple seconds,” he said.
Topics in the three-disc set cover drowning and asphyxiation hazards, noise exposure, crushing hazards, toxic substance exposure, oil and gas facility hazards, entanglement hazards, falls and collisions, and electrical hazards.
The series was developed by the Raymond, Alta., based non-profit safety centre with support from Conoco Phillips and the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association.
