By Jessie Weisner (Twitter: @Jessie__Weisner)

Rural safety trailer makes appearance in Rocky

Aug 3, 2018 | 10:53 AM

The Agriculture for Life rural safety unit made an appearance at Rocky Mountain House’s Market on Main Thursday.

This is the trailer’s first year in operation as it works to spread awareness on safe practices on farms.

“It’s an interactive mobile classroom,” says Katlyn Benedict, Rural and Farm Safety Specialist with Ag for Life. “We go around to schools, community events and fairs trying to promote and encourage farm safety.”

The trailer targets students in grades four to twelve, providing engaging learning tools on certain topics.

“Inside the trailer, there’s a bunch of interactive stations and they were all picked based on the number of injuries and fatalities per year,” says Benedict. “We have large animals, large equipment, chemicals, utilities, the major things on farms that we want to raise more awareness on.”

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Benedict says machine run-overs and roll-overs are the main causes for injuries, making up roughly 70% of farm fatalities in Canada.

The trailer runs from April to October, and is completely booked up for two months come the start of school in September.

Ag for Life aims to expand the trailer to different provinces in the future, and adapt to different agricultural challenges.

“We have a bunch of different technologies, we have some I-pad games and a touch screen TV so with all that we’re able to adapt and update our material,” says Benedict. “That way we can make it so we can go back to the same school or event with different material and different games and different ways to promote farm safety.”

Benedict says the Rocky community responded well to the message, with all ages interacting with the resources.

“We’ve had all the way from small little 2-year-old kids to grandparents, and everyone loves it, everyone kind of walks in and goes ooh ahh, and we’re trying to make safety fun, safety important and raise awareness for safety.” 

The trailer hopes to reach around 30,000 people in its first summer.