Child safety on farms

Farmsafe Australia asks: will the media be part of the problem or part of the solution?

A proud child perched on the mudguard of a tractor driven by her father as the sun sets in the west. A bunch of laughing kids in checked shirts and Akubras riding in the back of a bush-bashing ute. A clever child of eight or nine riding a quadrunner through a river bed as lazy cattle meander alongside.

These are some uniquely rural images evocative of life on the land and the freedom afforded to children fortunate enough to be part of a farming family. Unfortunately they also illustrate practices that have and continue to cause the death and serious injury of children on farms.

In Australia some 30 children die each year as a result of incidents that occur on farms and around 600 are injured severely enough to require hospitalisation. While drowning of toddlers (in dams, rivers, ponds, troughs etc) is the most common cause, farm machinery including tractors, 2 and 4 wheeled motorcycles, farm vehicles and horses are also significant causes of death and injury.

The ways to prevent many of these incidents are simple enough but require a change in culture and common practice. Some of the most important things that can be done are:

• Keep children off tractors and other mobile farm plant (eg., harvesters)
   
• Keep children off 4 wheeled motorcycles until they are 16 (as recommended by the manufacturers of these vehicles)
   
• Keep children off the back of farm utes, trucks and trailers and use appropriate child restraints when transporting children (as one would on a public road)
   
• Where children are riding bicycles, motorcycles and horses, wear the right protective gear such as helmets, boots and long trousers.

As is the case with many public health issues, the media can be part of the problem or part of the solution.

Iconic images of the type described in the opening paragraph are common in both city and country press and serve only to normalise poor, unsafe practice. Some images may even place the person in the image at risk of prosecution as the practice runs contrary to workplace health and safety standards ... and the farm is a workplace.

Farmsafe Australia (a nationally representative farmer-led organisation) is currently implementing a three-year program funded by the Federal Department of Health and Ageing to reduce the incidence of child death and injury on farms. We invite and encourage the media to become part of the solution and help us by carefully considering the images used to portray country life - especially those involving children. Just as the media self-censors images of people smoking in the interests of public health, we encourage self-censorship using the main dot points above as a starting point. Because many city kids do visit farms (and a third of the deaths involve visitors to farms) this is as important for city media to consider as rural media.

Further information can be obtained from the Child Safety on Farms website at www.farmsafe.org.au or for more specific guidance on these matters contact Laurie Stiller at the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety, Moree (02-67528218 or by email lauries@health.usyd.edu.au).

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