As part of a campaign to warn children across Northern Ireland of the dangers on farms, Chairman of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), Professor Peter McKie, visited Lisfearty Primary School in Dungannon to launch the 2011 “Be Aware Kids” Child Safety calendar.
The “Be Aware Kids” campaign, which was introduced by the HSENI in 2004, targets children, parents and the wider farming community to help them become more aware of the everyday risks associated with farm life. Health and safety legislation was also introduced in 2006 to combat farm-related deaths by preventing children under the age of 13 from operating, driving or riding agricultural machinery.
Children from rural primary schools are encouraged to be involved in the campaign by entering an annual poster competition, the winning 12 posters then feature in the ‘Be Aware Kids’ Child Safety calendar. This year, Pearse Toner of St. Mary’s Primary School Cookstown and Caron Jones of Lisfearty Primary School were the overall winners and were presented with framed copies of their entries.
The campaign has had great success with no child farm-related deaths between 2005 and 2008, however, there was one farm-related child death in 2009. This is a big improvement on the previous decade when 16 children died in farm-related incidents.
The calendar is being sent to every farm with primary school age children across Northern Ireland to promote key safety messages and to help ensure these are communicated in a fun and engaging way.
Professor McKie said, “Farms are not only places of work but they are home to many families and children across Northern Ireland. Whilst farms are extremely enjoyable places for children to grow up on, they can also be very dangerous.”
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