RAYMOND, Alta. – Seven UFA Safety Smarts instructors drove 144,149 kilometres to deliver the farm safety message to 52,420 students in 2,620 rural classrooms in 2009-2010.
Laura Nelson of Raymond, executive director of the Alberta Farm Safety Centre that launched the Safety Smarts classroom program 12 years ago, said the goal is to educate children about the dangers in agriculture and rural life.
She hopes the message will be shared with their parents and be instilled in the children throughout their lives wherever they live and work.
A third edition of the centre’s seven take-home activity booklets was provided to each student to spark discussion in families.
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“The UFA program includes age-appropriate, hands-on, interactive safety lessons to raise the awareness of the potential hazards on the average family farm,” said Nelson.
“It is designed to teach safe responses to all hazards.”
The program was available to schools in the southern half of Alberta in 2005 and went provincewide in 2008.
Nelson said the program is well received by teachers. More than 1,700 teachers responded to an evaluation form, with 95 percent rating it as excellent for program content and delivery.
Nelson said federal and provincial grants are essential to Safety Smarts program development and delivery.
She said corporate funding and money from other sectors have been increasing to relieve some of the financial crunch.
The major sponsors include UFA, ConcocoPhillips Canada, Rural Alberta’s development fund, Alberta Agriculture, Pioneer Hi-Bred Canada, Monsanto Canada and 15 municipalities.
