[SEPT. 28, 2005]
Each
year in the United States, approximately 70 children ages 14 and
under die from injuries sustained on a farm; in 2001, nearly 16,000
were injured on a farm. In Illinois, approximately 2,500,000
children live in rural areas. Safe Kids Logan County encourages
parents to focus on injury prevention.
In celebration of Farm Safety Week, Safe Kids Logan County is
offering a public farm safety event at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Logan
County Health Department. The event will include interactive
demonstrations, information on emergency first aid, tips on safe
electricity and speakers from the community. All ages are welcome.
The event is being sponsored in part by State Bank of Lincoln,
Ag-Land FS, Hartem FFA, Safe Kids Logan County and Logan County
Health Department.
"Kids need to be supervised while doing farm work, and kids
should not try to do the work of an adult," says Kim Escobedo, Safe
Kids Logan County coordinator. "It takes physical strength and
development, as well as mature judgment, to operate mechanical farm
equipment safely."
Farm machinery and drowning account for most farm-related child
fatalities. Safe Kids Logan County recommends that children under 16
never drive or ride on ATVs, snowmobiles or tractors, and nobody
should ride as a passenger on a tractor or lawnmower.
Children should also be supervised near irrigation ditches, ponds
and other bodies of water, no matter how shallow. "A small child can
drown in just an inch of water," Escobedo says. "Drowning happens
quickly and silently, not like in the movies. A drowning child
cannot cry or call for help." The drowning death rate for all age
groups is three times higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of children ages 4 to
16 and the No. 1 cause of fatal accidental injury in children 14 and
under. More than 60 percent of crash fatalities occur in rural
areas.
In addition to using properly installed car seats or booster
seats for children under 8 years old and 4 feet, 9 inches tall,
Escobedo says, "Never, ever let a child ride in the bed of a pickup
truck. In a crash, the child will almost certainly be ejected and
killed or suffer a permanent, life-changing injury." It is against
Illinois law to carry passengers in a truck bed.
Safe Kids Logan County also
recommends these precautions:
Don't let kids play on or near farm equipment. Turn off
powered equipment when kids are nearby, and make sure safety
shields are properly attached.
Make sure heating devices such as wood stoves and space
heaters are properly ventilated. Have your chimneys cleaned
every year. Also, install smoke alarms on every level and in
every sleeping area. Test them once a month and change the
batteries twice a year, or use alarms with 10-year lithium
batteries.
Kids should always wear equestrian helmets when riding a
horse or pony. Don't let kids ride without supervision, and
select horses with child-friendly temperament.
Make safe play areas on the farm, physically separated from
animals, farm equipment and bodies of water.
If it is necessary to walk along rural roads not marked for
pedestrians, teach kids to walk on the shoulder of the road,
facing oncoming traffic (the left side), and to walk in a single
file, wearing retro-reflective decals.
National Farm Safety & Health Week, observed Sept. 18-24, is a
program of the National Safety Council's National Education Center
for Agricultural Safety. For details, visit
www.nsc.org/necas.
For more information about child passenger safety, drowning or
fire prevention, call (217) 735-2317 or visit
www.safekids.org.
