Tom Henihan
Express Staff
Smokyriverexpress.com
@SmokyRiverExprs
Smoky River Ag Society brought its Farm Safety program to G.P. Vanier School on Wednesday, April 25.
The farm safety session was addressed specifically to students in Grades 10 and 11, as they are the ones most likely to be presently working on the farm.
“We are here so they will realize that there are safety hazards on the farm, to show the students how to avoid them and be more cautious,” says Ag Society president, Linda Dionne Marcoux.
A number of tables were setup at the event covering issues such as operating machinery, animal handling, grain bin hazards, brain injury prevention all aimed at creating increased awareness of safety issues on the farm.
Along with helping young farmers acquire the skills to respond to an emergency, the event also encouraged youth to create an emergency plan, to have a strategic line of action as to what to do and knowing who to call.
A number of farmers had agreed to participate in the event but at this time of the year attending to calving and the threat of flooding, they were unable to make it.
Fire Chief Marcel Maure and the rescue unit also had to forego participating as they were busy making sandbags and contending with floods.
“Originally it should have been done in March, because that is when Farm Safety Awareness Week happens, but there were too many conflicts with that schedules,” says Marcoux.
This is the first time the Ag Society brought the Farm Safety Program to the school to directly involve young people.
“We have had different farm safety activities for the little ones, like last year at the Trade Show,” says Marcoux. “But we never had anything in the school for the youth, for the one’s that work on the farm.”
