Farm Safety 4 Just Kids

Yesterday there was a wonderful program at our local school.  The program, Farm Safety 4 Just Kids, is held every other year there.  There were six schools represented by their 5th & 6th graders.  I have volunteered for the past 4 or 5 years to take photos at this event and enjoy it every time.  The students & volunteers all get a new t-shirt so we know who is supposed to be with our group. 

The students go to various stations in small groups of about 10.  This year the main stations taught Safety about:  Electricity, Chemicals, Hunting, Tractors & equipment, Fire, ATV, Lawn Mowers, Drugs, various Disabilities, AED/CPR, Communication/Alchol Prevention, and First Aid.  There were also breaks in their rotations where they could learn about: Auger & Pinch Point Safety, Reaction Times, Animal safety, Safety around Grain Bins & trailers, Water Safety, Bicycle Safety, and more.  At the end of the day, members of the local FFA gave a demonstration about the dangers of loaders & PTOs.

The kids got to try some of the gear used by electric linemen.  They were also given a demonstration showing various electrical dangers around your home/farm.

This young lady put on the fire gear.  Kids were also shown some of the tools of the firemen's trade by getting a tour of a fire truck.

Two 2 liter bottles of pop (soda) were placed under the loader.  The loader was slowly lowered and the bottles blew up. 

Here is the aftermath, an excellant visual of the dangers of being around the loader.  During the tour, the FFA volunteers showed the students pinch points on the tractor and baler and educated them about the dangers on and around farm machinery.

I was introduced to Sven.  He was the "Demo Dummy" for the PTO demonstration.  Sven is the one in the middle!!  This was a safety suit filled with shredded paper.

Sven was tied (standing up) to the PTO shaft to represent what could happen if a person gets their clothes caught.  Here is just the first couple of rotations after the PTO was put in gear.

This is Sven during the demo.  He sure goes all out to educate the students, doesn't he?

This is Sven all wrapped around the PTO shaft.  Notice they had taken the guards off of the baler and tractor.  This helped to emphasis the importantance of them. 

Shared on Farm Photo Friday