TUGASKE, Sask. – Children who might normally wiggle in their seats sat quietly as Murray McWilliams and Darwin McClughan stood before them.
They listened attentively to the men’s stories, clearly grasping the enormity of what had happened to them as a result of farm accidents.
McWilliams, now 62, was just four when he was picked up by a combine’s canvas table and flipped into the machine’s open cylinder during harvest on the family farm near Briercrest, Sask.
“I begged my mother to go to the field,” McWilliams told students from several communities attending a Progressive Agriculture Safety Day in Tugaske. “In less than an hour I was in trouble.”
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It took two hours to get the young boy out of the combine, but his right leg didn’t make it.
McClughan of Duval, Sask., lost most of his right arm in a round baler in August 2004. From 10 p.m. until his cousin happened to drive by the next morning at 10, McClughan straddled a live power take-off as he tried to remove his arm.
“I’d done it before,” he said. “I left the machine running to save time. Well, it saved time for a while. Now I’m paying for it by losing time.”
Their message, and that of the other presenters, is to slow down and be safe.
Progressive Agriculture Safety Day was founded by Progressive Farmer magazine in 1995. The program operates in the United States and Canada.
In Tugaske, students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 participated in activities to learn about farm and ranch safety and health.
- At the Agriculture in the Classroom display, children learned how cattle see the world and why they sometimes kick.
- They startled at the Operation Lifesaver video showing a train-truck collision from all perspectives.
- They examined the equipment that emergency personnel might use if an accident occurs.
Agriculture is considered the most dangerous occupation in Canada in terms of fatality numbers.
Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program data shows 1,769 fatalities in the country from 1990 to 2005, more than half of which were due to machines, including rollovers, runovers, entanglements and collisions.
McWilliams and McClughan are among the lucky ones.
Both continued to farm after their accidents, although McWilliams has retired.
McClughan said he approaches his machinery differently now, and his accident encouraged neighbours and others in the community to realize the consequences of not taking care.
He had left his cell phone in the tractor cab the night of his accident and hadn’t told anyone where he would be.
As a result, he stood through the night, in the rain, thinking of other farm accidents.
Since then, he has spoken about his experience and finds young students are good listeners.
“Children seem to really take hold of what we’re saying,” he said.
McWilliams agreed. He has spoken to thousands of children over the years.
“You have to think before you do something,” he said. “Always do what your parents tell you to do. I didn’t listen to them. Tell your folks where you’re going.”
He reminded them that playing on farm equipment at any time is unsafe. Even machinery that is not running can roll.
On the lighter side, he said he has lived his life never having to look for a missing sock or worrying about finding a matching pair.
