Most farm kids learn farm jobs by watching their parents and the more they see, the more they want to become involved. But sometimes that eagerness places them in danger.
That’s why Glen Blahey of Manitoba Labor said it is crucial for parents to provide proper supervision.
“Typically, children are very interested and intrigued about what’s going on, but also one of the typical characteristics of a child is to try and impress their peers, as well as their parents,” Blahey said at a rural health and safety conference in Saskatoon Oct. 22.
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“Children will many times offer to become involved in work or not even offer but go ahead and begin the work without parental supervision and demonstrate to their parent that they are capable of doing it.”
While their enthusiasm is encouraging, it exposes them to dangers if they are not capable of handling such jobs, Blahey said.
“Everything from machine entanglement to being trampled, butted and gored by the livestock, crushed between gates, not necessarily having adequate body strength to control an animal, and the potential for chemical exposure, noise exposure, dust inhalation.”
Christina Bancej, a researcher at the Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health in Ottawa, presented a study on injuries in Ontario farm children at the conference.
She discussed a group of 724 kids under the age of 20 who were injured on farms.
In that group, the percentage of children hurt by farm machines was second highest, next to those injured from a high fall. Bancej noted children injured while playing sports or riding recreational vehicles made up the two lowest numbers in the study.
In the same group, the most common areas injured were the head and face while the hands and fingers ran next. Bancej notes the youth’s spines and eyes were the least affected body parts.
Most of the injured farm kids suffered from cuts and lacerations, followed in frequency by fractures. Bites were the least likely scenario.
More boys were involved in accidents than girls with the largest numbers coming from the one to four-year-old group.
Most accidents occur in July and August.
