PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. (Staff) – Deciding when to delegate responsibilities to family members is one of the most difficult farm management decisions to make, says the farm safety co-ordinator for the Manitoba government.
Glen Blahey told a farm safety conference here assigning tasks isn’t as simple as knowing the ages of various family members. It involves understanding their maturity, experience, physical stamina and their level of interest.
It also means recognizing there can be as many as four generations working together on a farm, all of whom have varying abilities.
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“When we’re talking about age-appropriate tasks, we don’t only talk about the young people.”
Blahey said a youngster or an elder cannot be expected to do a task in the same capacity as an adult in their prime. Their reaction time is different, their strength may be less and their attention span will vary.
It is also important to ensure children working on the farm receive training in the task beyond what they have observed their parent doing. And they need ongoing supervision.
Statistics show the farm is a risky place for both the very young and the very old. A third of all farm fatalities involve children under the age of 16 and adults over age 65.
Those same categories accounted for 22 percent of the farm injuries requiring hospitalization between 1983 and 1992, according to a provincial study on injury control released earlier this year.
The coalition of government agencies which prepared the report, found agriculture’s record on preventing injuries lagged far behind that of other industries in the province.
“While in other occupational settings, there has been a 44 to 73 percent reduction in injuries over the past 40 years, we have seen only an eight percent reduction in the agriculture/forestry industry,” the study found.
“One of the most significant and confounding issues is the level of involvement of children,” in farm accidents, the study said.
The report recommended the problem be confronted by communities, as well as senior governments.
“Leadership for farm injury reduction must come from the agricultural community itself, with grassroots involvement of individuals who live and work in the community.”
