The Alberta Farm Safety Centre has once again requested that Mountain View County's Ag Service Board contribute funding to its UFA Safety Smarts program, which offers free farm safety training to rural elementary-aged (K-6) students throughout the province in an attempt to minimize farm-related injuries and deaths.The request for funding was brought forward at a recent meeting of the Ag Services Board, along with a report of the program's work in MVC from the 2010-11 school year.ìWe take the safety of children very seriously and are supportive of the UFA Safety Smarts program,î said Bill Sheehan, chair of the county's Ag Services Board.With the program being free of charge, its operation relies heavily on the funding given to it through government grants (federal and provincial) and the contributions of sponsors, both municipal and corporate.Laura Nelson, executive director of AFSC, said the group is looking for about one-third of the cost of delivering the program to the county's students in 2012, which comes in at about $6,600.The county contributed $4,200 to the program last year.The Ag Services Board is currently awaiting its 2012 budget to be finalized, and Sheehan said they would be entertaining the possibility of again contributing to the safety program.ìIf we have room in the budget to do so, we certainly will do something,î he said.The Ag Service Board's 2012 budget is anticipated to be finalized on Dec 7, 2011, at which time the AFSC will be alerted to any funding it may be receiving for the program.Sheehan said he believes the program has been successful in MVC over the years, noting he is not aware of any recent incidents in the county where children have been injured in farm accidents.A total of 1,885 students in Mountain View County received farm safety training from the UFA Safety Smarts program last school year. Nelson said she believes the program offers a valuable resource to rural communities.ìAgriculture is a major industry in Alberta, and rural families are its most important resource. Keeping rural children, their families and their communities safe and healthy is the mission and mandate of the Alberta Farm Safety Centre,î she said.ìYou would never think of taking your family to work with you if you worked on a construction site, or a logger, or a similarly dangerous occupation. (But) it's just a reality on a working farm. Farm families live on the worksite.îNot many urban kids have a pet that can crush them, or are exposed to standing and moving bodies of water, or dangerous chemicals and machinery, she said.ìThe reality is that rural children ñ especially those living, visiting, or working on farming operations ñ are exposed to hazards that urban children never would be.îNelson noted two incidents from recent weeks that have her unsettled, including the death of a six-year-old boy in a grain auger in northern Alberta, and an eight-year old boy from a Hutterite colony who was killed when he was driven over by a grain truck.Although there appears to be a decrease overall in child-related farm incidents, the nature of the data can be varied and unpredictable, making it hard to quantify the effects of the program, said Nelson.ìIt's extremely variable. Overall, there does seem to be a gradual decrease, but then you'll hit a year where there are 23 deaths and eight of them are children,î said Nelson, referring to 2008.ìThere hadn't been a year that high in the whole history of the program. But then the next year, there was only one child (fatality).îAbout 21 per cent of all the farm-related fatalities recorded in Alberta from 1997 (when the program commenced) until 2010 have been less than 18 years of age, said Nelson.One of the leading causes of fatalities on the farm is being run over or rolled over, said Nelson.ìThere has to be a cultural shift with the kids ñ we want them to know their personal choices can keep them safe,î said Nelson.ìIf we even prevent one serious injury or one death, it's worth all of the things we do.îìIt's heartbreaking. I really can't think about it too much,î she said.
