Adults must teach youngsters to use farm equipment safely
BLACKSBURG, Va., Feb. 20, 2009 – When youth take an off-the-farm job, laws and regulations protect them by preventing the use of dangerous equipment. Those laws do not apply when they work on the family farm. Parents and other adults must ensure that children’s safety is their No. 1 priority. Adults must know the dangers and know their youth and their capabilities, keeping them out of situations they are not ready the handle.
“For young children, injuries tend to occur in situations where they play without sufficient supervision in the farm environment or near or on agricultural equipment operated by adults, siblings, or peers,” says Bobby Grisso, Virginia Cooperative Extension engineer at Virginia Tech. “However, many farm children as young as 10 years old are working alongside adults and running machinery.”
“For children and youth, the safety problems are most apt to occur when they operate equipment and machinery before they have the physical and judgmental abilities to do so safely,” he adds. Studies of all types of deaths among youth exposed to agricultural hazards show that tractors are involved in the greatest percentage of those deaths.
“A National Safety Council study shows that agricultural workers under the age of 25 account for 16 percent of all deaths in agriculture,” says Grisso. “They also have a fatality rate approximately three times higher than the national private-sector fatality rate. And, the rates are higher for youth under the age of 15 when actual hours of work are considered.”
Before allowing or asking youth to operate farm equipment, adults must be sure that all safety features are in place and operating correctly. “It is one thing to be foolish enough to disengage safety devices when you jeopardize only yourself, but it is unconscionable to risk someone else’s life or limb on that equipment,” says Grisso.
Adults must also be aware that youth develop skills and judgment at different rates—not all 16-year-olds are equal when it comes to maturity of body and mind. There is little research data available on appropriate age and cognitive and physical development required to operate tractors, so we must rely on the judgment of the adults who know each youth and his or her capabilities, Grisso says.
“It is never too early to start educating young people about safety,” says Grisso. “However, children and youth cannot be expected to recognize their own risk-taking behaviors without adult supervision – no matter how much instruction they have had.”
Adults must enforce the “No Rider” rule for tractors and be aware of the presence of children and youth around operating tractors and other farm equipment.
Contact: Robert Grisso
Virginia Cooperative Extension Engineer
Virginia Tech
(540) 231-6538
rgrisso@vt.edu
Contact: Michael Sutphin
Writer
Communications and Marketing
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Virginia Tech
(540) 231-6975
msutphin@vt.edu
Writer: Susan Suddarth
Student Intern
Communications and Marketing
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Virginia Tech