The subject of child safety on farms has been well documented in the past. However, with the recent release of the coroner’s report which investigated the tragic events of last year where a four year old child was fatally injured on the family farm, it is a good time to revisit this topic.
Although it is accepted that the farm is also the home, there is still a real need to establish specific farm safety rules. Farm vehicles and mobile machinery account for almost three times as many young children being killed in rural areas of Australia as compared to their city counterparts and twice as many are killed as pedestrians in low speed impacts with vehicles.
Ensure high traffic areas and areas where heavy machinery is operating or being worked on are deemed ‘No-Go Zones’ to small children. Instead establish a safe play area for children, such as a securely fenced house yard.
Farm rules go a long way to ensuring that we only get peace and quiet during school hours.
An ideal place to begin when making the decision to ensure your farm is as safe for children as possible is to conduct a Risk Assessment. To make this task less daunting, it is best to follow a simple farm safety checklist.
The following checklist has been developed by Farmsafe Australia Inc. and is not intended to be a substitute for a comprehensive on farm safety inspection and occupational health and safety management system.
