Deputy Fire Chief, Darrell Wickenhauser, watches as a member of his department gives a fire demo during the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day on Oct. 4. (Facebook/Safe Communities Humboldt & Area)

By Becky Zimmer

Safety on the farm

Students learn how to be safe on the farm during safety day in Humboldt

Oct 8, 2023 | 1:33 PM

Over 200 students learned about safety in and around the farm during the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day program at the Humboldt Uniplex on Wednesday.

Students from Grades 1 through 6 from Bruno School and Grades 1 to 4 from Humboldt Public School took in eight different presentations on different safety issues.

In a video produced by Safe Communities following the event, different community presenters talked about why starting safety conversations at a young age are so important.

Lisa McGowan, health educator through Acquired Brain Injury Services out of Saskatoon City Hospital, said in the post-event video that it is important that they talk to students early about ATV safety, protective gear, and helmets.

“ATVs are very powerful machines, they’re very heavy machines, and there’s a lot of potential for students to be injured on and around them. In fact, SGI tells us that over the last 10 years, there was actually 128 young people between the ages of one and 19 that were injured on ATVs.”

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Marcel Leblanc, a service technician with Hergott Farm Equipment in Humboldt, spoke about general farm safety, especially since many young people are growing up in urban areas and not always getting this on the farm experience.

“Today is a good day for them to learn some safety features before they show up for the first visit,” he said.

Andrew Joseph and Jaime Kessels from CN Rail presented on rail safety and made kids aware of how quiet and fast trains are while also addressing how long it takes for them to stop. Crossing safety was the main focus of the presentation. Thirteen per cent of 1,038 rail accidents in 2021 occurred at rail crossings while six per cent of accidents involved a trespasser on the train. The students also went for a ride on Little Obie, a six-foot high, scale model of a CN locomotive, a fun way for kids to take in the presentation.

“Hopefully we had an impact on everybody that will have more knowledge and safety around trains,” said Joseph.

Other presentations included the Humboldt and District Ambulance talking about safety at home and what to do when calling 911, Humboldt and District Fire Department giving a fire safety demonstration using an actual fire, and the Humboldt Aquatic Center presenting on open water and ice safety. YOUth Matter Canada also gave a presentation on mental wellness, while SaskPower via their Saskatchewan Association of Agricultural Societies and Exhibitions presented on electrical safety.

The Progressive Agriculture Safety Day program has now been “recognized as the largest rural safety and health program for children in North America,” stated Safe Communities in a recent press release. “To date, almost 1.7 million children and adults have been impacted by the program,” including 15 years of students attending in Humboldt and area.

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim