Teaching farm safety has to be interactive and a little bit fun, according to a 4-H and youth specialist who concentrates on farm and rural safety.
“It’s difficult to get the message across if it’s always doom and gloom,” said Leanne Sprung, of Manitoba Agriculture.
These days, Sprung said there’s no shortage of good ways to teach farm safety to kids.
There are so many ideas to choose from that Manitoba Agriculture is developing a directory of farm safety ideas for families, schools, groups and communities.
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“There’s lots of neat stuff happening,” she said.
In the past several years, she’s noticed a significant increase in requests for information and ideas.
People are becoming more aware of the importance of farm safety – and more open about talking about injuries on their own farms.
Personal stories have a real impact on adults and children alike, said Sprung.
And it’s important to focus on choices rather than a list of dos and don’ts.
“None of us like to be preached at,” she said.
Sprung also recommends groups or communities looking at starting farm safety activities find a local champion to organize events.
She said locally driven events are much more successful than ones where experts “parachute” in.
“If the time is right and you have a very effective resource, the awareness is increased and people can see why it’s really important to make a behavior change,” said Sprung.
For more information on educational tools, contact provincial safety councils or labor, agriculture or 4-H offices.
