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Luverne High School FFA students hosted a Farm Safety Day Camp Wednesday, May 4, in the north parking lot of the school campus.
There were a dozen different stations illustrating to fourth-grade students the operations and potential hazards of farm machinery and equipment.
FFA adviser Dennis Moritz said the students did a good job organizing their stations and preparing for the event.
“The biggest thing that we hope to achieve is to prevent even one young person from being seriously injured or killed,” Moritz said about the May 4 event. “Then it was all worthwhile to promote farm safety.”
Children are much more likely than adults to be injured working on the farm, according to University of Minnesota Extension research.
The purpose of Farm Safety Day Camps is to show 8- to 13-year-olds the basics of farm safety and health along with common farm hazards and how to avoid them.
“Farms are great places for children to play and work,” said Extension safety specialist John Shutske. “But they can also be places where kids are injured or even killed.”
He urges families to give thoughtful consideration to the ages of their children working on the farm and whether their responsibilities are appropriate for their level of maturity.
“A kid who looks big is still a kid and deserves all the protection that loving adults can provide,” Shutske said. “One big part of that protection is keeping kids from doing jobs they're simply not mature enough to handle.”
Moritz led a similar Farm Safety Day for Adrian fourth-graders later in the day May 4.