03/27/06 Children Injured on the Farm

03/27/06 Children Injured on the Farm

Children injured on the farm. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Each year nearly 100,000 children under the age of 20 are injured on farms and over 100 are killed. These figured are a bit sobering. Included in this total are children of farm families, farm workers, and migrant and seasonal workers. About a million and half children under the age of 20 live, work, or have a regular presence on farms in the United States. One of every 5 child injuries occurring on farms is animal related; the majority involving horses and cattle. Of course farming is a common form of employment, providing summer jobs for lots of teens all over the country. Farm machinery, animals, chemicals, and storage areas are things that some teens ordinarily might not encounter - and they can pose a serious risk to people who don`t know how to protect themselves. University of Illinois Extension farm safety specialist Bob Aherin says he knows farmers want their kids with them. But it might not be worth the potential loss. AHERIN: We abuse this. We put kids at risk, very high risk at times that result in very serious injuries and death because when you're out their operating farm equipment and you have an extra rider, for example, there are a lot problems with that. One, you need to pay a lot of attention to what you are doing so you can't pay extra attention to the rider. If it is a young child, they may be fidgeting around. They could fall off the tractor, they could hit the door on the cab of the tractor or combine and fall out. We've had kids fall out the back windows of equipment. So it is a very dangerous situation to have extra riders, particular children on our farm equipment. It's not only around machinery that safety is important. The CDC in a 2001 study cautioned that injuries around farm animals can be prevented if several steps are followed. Teach youth how to handle and work with animals safely. Make sure children have no contact with farm animals that are aggressive, sick, are mothers of newborns, or breeding male animals (bulls, boars, rams, etc.). Make sure children wear proper protective clothing when handling animals. Provide shots and proper health checks for all household pets. But it`s not all doom and gloom: With appropriate education and safety precautions, farm-related injuries and deaths can be prevented - and teens can enjoy all the positive experiences that farms have to offer.
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