The Wellington County Farm and Home Safety Association (FHSA) held a Children’s Safety Day on April 23 at Farfield Farms south of Alma.
Continuing a 30-year tradition, the organization offered opportunities for young people to learn about safety as it applies to hearing, shops, power take offs (PTOs), tractors, fire, large animals and, new this year, guns.
Guelph-Eramosa councillor and local FHSA president David Wolk said the association typically hosts two farm safety days per year.
“We try to hold them in farm locations and cover off a number of farm and home safety features from workshop safety to lawn mowers and tractors,” said Wolk.
“This year, we’ve added a new feature, gun safety, something which seems to be long overdue,” said Wolk.
He added organization members are always delighted with the turnout, noting, “We get a lot of quite young children, perhaps not as many teenagers as we would like, and a good cross section of adults.”
Wolk said by virtue of Wellington County’s location, “we do tend to get a good turnout from the Mennonite community.
“But this is not put on exclusively for that reason.”
He noted that, increasingly, rural areas are becoming home to people moving out from urban centres.
“Often we will have people who have moved onto a small holding – less than 10 acres – but suddenly they are using a bigger mower for the lawn, possibly a chainsaw,” said Wolk.
He explained chainsaws are a topic that deserves more attention.
“You have to take a course to buy a gun, but you don’t have to do anything but go to the hardware store to buy a chainsaw – which on its own can be every bit as lethal as a gun,” said Wolk.
He said colleagues have suggested to him that “if chainsaws were not invented when they were, many years ago – they would be illegal today.”
Wolk concluded, “We think events such as this are important and agriculture is the largest business in Ontario and the farm community is very important to us.”
Association spokesman Walter Grose earlier commented that if the day can save one life, it is worth it.
“We like to teach the children because then they also keep their parents safe,” he said.
