Mac Olsen
Spotlight
Name three pieces of equipment where the one-seat, one rider rule would reduce risk.
Answer: a combine, quad and a tractor.
This is one of the questions that students at Ecole Routhier in Falher had to answer as part of an education program offered by Carla Richard, who works for the Farm Safety Alberta office in Sexsmith.
Richard concluded the question by encouraging the students to check the sticker on their quads for the number of riders allowed.
Don’t take chances with safety, she adds.
Richard had the students sit in teams to play the game, which is entitled ‘Don’t Press Your Luck’.
She uses a computer and a classroom SMART board for the game.
The game randomly selects questions for the students, which they have to discuss amongst themselves and then they tell her their answers.
Another question that they had to answer was, name two places on a farm where someone could drown. Their answers included a dugout, trough, grain bins, ditches, creeks and culverts.
Other subjects covered by the game included hearing protection, machine rollovers and risk taking.
At the end of the game, Richard gave each teacher a test and other information materials about farm safety for the students.
As per their website:
“The Farm Safety Centre, a non-profit organization, promotes safe agricultural practices through the development and delivery of educational materials throughout rural Alberta.
“In 1997 a cross section of agricultural stakeholders in Alberta met to discuss and determine which groups would benefit most from farm safety educational efforts. It was determined that the number one target group should be children. It was thought that mature farmers could be reached through their children. Also, as these same rural children would be the next generation of farmers and influencing their safety attitudes while they were young would impact their individual safety decisions as adults, it seemed a very good investment in the future of Alberta.”
For more information about the program and the organization, please call Richard at (780) 296-2667 or send an email to c.richard@abfarmsafety.com.