By Sheldon Spackman

Lacombe County hosts annual Farm Safety Day

Jun 22, 2018 | 1:00 PM

Roughly 250 grade five students learned all about farm safety during the annual Lacombe County Farm Safety Day held at the County’s Operations Building on Friday.

The event featured seven safety stations for the students to rotate through and included a Horse Safety station with Brittany Rogers from the Rogers Riding Academy, a Fire Safety station presented by Lacombe County Fire Chief Drayton Bussiere and Bentley Fire Chief Ian McLaren.

Others included an ATV Safety station presented by Lacombe County Peace Officers Landon Craney and Ray Kawai, a Grain Safety station with Jim Davenport from the Clive Seed Cleaning Plant, Mowing Safety station with Lindsay Vink from Lacombe County, Heavy Equipment Safety station with T.J. McTrowe from Lacombe County and a Post Pounder Safety station with Doug Giles from Lacombe County.

Jalene Makus, Assistant Ag Fieldman with Lacombe County says the day is all about spreading awareness about the potential dangers on a farm.

“It can be quite dangerous,” says Makus. “There are lots of hazards, equipment is always running, and there was an incident a few years ago about some kids that drowned in some grain, so we just want to teach the kids and prevent accidents from happening.”

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She hopes the kids who attend take away a better sense of awareness when spending time on a farm.

“Value agriculture, but also be aware that you need to be safe when you’re on an agricultural farm.”

Krista Pannenbecker, Administrator for Agriculture Protective Services says the event and its safety stations provide important information for people of all ages.

“Although the students are from within Lacombe County, we have a lot of urban students as well who maybe aren’t on a farm,” adds Pannenbecker. “So fire safety, ATV safety is also very relative to what they would be doing. We also have mowing safety so if the kids are ever doing chores around the house, mowing the grass, they know how to operate and what not to do.”

Pannenbecker concludes the event better informs all kids about the hazards that can be found on a farm whether they live in an urban or rural setting and provides important skills to be learned for the safety of everyone.