Child safety on farms
Farms are exciting places for children but there are many risks and there are things you can do to ensure they remain safe.
Children who live on farms are at greater risk of injury and death than their parents or other farm workers.
In fact, the under-16 age group is one of the most vulnerable to work-related farm accidents in NSW. Children visiting farms account for more than 20 per cent of all child deaths on farms.
Children learn by imitation. If you practice and value farm safety, so will your child.
Here are some safety tips to follow when you have children on your farm.
Quad bikes
If under 16, children should be forbidden from riding your quad bike – even as a passenger. Your quad bike is a vehicle. In untrained hands, it can be lethal.
Even child-size quad bikes have been involved in fatal accidents, often involving rollovers.
Machinery
Machinery is responsible for many deaths and injuries on farms.
Common tractor accidents involve rollovers, run-overs and unguarded power take-off shafts.
Don’t let passengers, in particular children, ride on a tractor.
Fences
Fence off your backyard to make sure children are not exposed to animals that may escape and run wild. Also, fence off any dams that may present a risk of drowning.
Make sure gates are childproof and self-locking.
Supervision
Don't ever allow children to wander about your farm without supervision.
Quad bikes, tractors, dams, tanks, animals and chemicals are just some aspects of farm life that present a significant safety threat to children.
Anna recalls her worst nightmare: she thought her young daughter had been bitten by a snake or drowned in a dam when she went missing for several hours after climbing the farm gate and wandering off with her dog. A search party of police and neighbours eventually found her a few kilometres away.
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