Keep Kids Safe on Your Lifestyle Block

It is a good idea to walk around your lifestyle block and make a list of the possible dangers to your children. Tackle each issue by providing training or warning your children of the dangers. You cannot trust them to just learn by themselves – that is a risk you should not take.

One of the biggest problems for new lifestyle block owners is educating their children to the dangers that exist in their new environment. They may be used to dodging the cars as they cross Remuera Road but they will not be so adept at riding a farm bike. It is no use telling your kids that riding a motorcycle is too dangerous and they are not permitted to do so until they are 15. They will immediately point out that Johnny, the ten year old kid down the road, was allowed to ride a farm bike at the tender age of eight. Unless you want to be constantly nagged for the next five years, you need to work out how you can safely train your children to ride a motorcycle.

First you have to decide what is a safe age, considering their physical strength and whether they have that unmeasurable factor – common sense. If you feel their personality is such that they are likely to hoon around the paddocks showing off to their friends, then the time may not be right. Or you will need a more intensive training programme.

The Dangers

Lifestyle blocks are filled with hundreds of potential risks: large powerful machinery, watering holes, unpredictable animals weighing hundreds of kilos, pesticides, fertilizers and numerous buildings that are not child- safe. Injuries are most common among children 10 to 14 years of age, followed by children five to nine years of age. Two thirds of the injured were boys with the most frequent injuries being fractures/dislocations and cuts/lacerations/abrasions. Contributing factors are uneven terrain, equipment and machinery, and farm structures. For New Zealand, it had been found:

• * incidents involving motorcycles and All Terrain Vehicles (ATV’s) resulted in around 60% of all fatalities on farms
• * about 20% of all non fatal injuries require hospitalisation
• * the fracture of a lower limb occurred in 30% of all on-farm motorbike accidents (source ACC)

Hopefully those chilling figures have scared you into preparing a training programme to ensur your child does not become one of those statistics.

Motorcycles

First step is the equipment – if your child is not the same size as you, don’t put them on yourbike. Buy a motorbike that is the right size for your child. They will have the physical strength to handle this smaller and lighter bike. While they are growing, they will be gaining expertise on the smaller version and be ready to move up when they are the right size.

Ensure your kids wear the right protective clothing when riding. The first essential is for them to always wear a helmet. Children not wearing helmets have a head-injury ratedouble the rate of those wearing helmets. If the helmet does not have a visor,then goggles are a good addition. Dont let them go riding wearing their Barefoot Nikes  a sturdy pair of boots are much safer. If you can, get them to wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts as these will cut down on the severity of cuts and grazes. You can be sure that your child will fall off the bike at some stage and so you need to reduce the chance of a nasty injury occurring.

The best way to do that is to train them properly. Teach them how to handle the bike on a variety of terrain. You should start them on a smooth, flat chunk of paddock with a nice sod of grass to cushion any fall. Set out some cones or other markers and get them riding around those. Then change the markers to an S course. When they can negotiate that with ease change to a slalom course with tighter turns. At this stage you should get them in the habit of looking ahead for obstacles they need to avoid.

Once they have become proficient on the flat, you can move onto a gentle slope and have them practise riding up, down, and across the slope. They need to learn how to change gears to suit the steepness of the slope. And how to adjust their body position to align the bike correctly going across the slope. The advanced training comes when they learn how to stand on the footrests when going up or coming down a hill. This technique will give better balance and the bike will have better traction. Learning how to start and stop on the hill will complete their initial training and allow you some confidence to let them toddle off on their own.

There should also be some training on the mechanical side  what to check on the bike before they take it out of the shed and some basic maintenance procedures. Your local motorcycle dealer can help with those two issues. No doubt you will want to establish a set of rules regarding bike safety and any transgression would see the bike locked away while they dwell on their mistake.

All terrain vehicles

ATVs are three or four-wheeled motorbikes that are popular on farms because they are strong and versatile. But they are also very dangerous. The ATV is the number one cause of death on NZ farms. Most injuries or deaths are caused by rider inexperience, lack of protective equipment or hazardous driving. People aged between 10 and 24 years are most likely to get hurt or killed riding an ATV. Despite its three or four wheels, the ATV is not the most stable of vehicles-most injuries and deaths involve the ATV rolling over the rider.

Some of the most frequent ways an ATV can cause injury and death include:

• * when the ATV is carrying a passenger
• * the legs of the rider or passenger getting caught by the tyres
• * the ATV flipping over backwards while negotiating a steep incline
• * the ATV hitting an obstacle and rolling over
• * the rider being hit by a low-hanging obstacle, like a branch
• * unevenly distributed or poorly secured loads tip the ATV while in motion
• * the rider is unfamiliar with the controls
• * the rider doesn’t know how to ride the ATV properly
• * the rider is driving recklessly, such as trying to perform stunts
• * the ATV is poorly maintained, leading to mechanical failure

Your risk of injury and death can be reduced by knowing the capabilities of your ATV. Suggestions include:

1. Read the manual and pay particular attention to the safety instructions
2. Study the warning labels and heed them
3. Some ATV suppliers provide a safety video. If they do, make sure that anyone who will be operating the ATV watches the video and understands the safety recommendations
4. Ask your ATV supplier for recommendations on training courses.
5. Keep the ATV in good mechanical repair.
6. Dont over load the ATV.
7. Use the ATV strictly according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
8. Leave all safety guards in place.
9. If your ATV needs accessories, make sure to use the original manufacturer’s equipment or their recommended products.
10. Fit accessories properly and don’t customise the vehicle or you may compromise the ATV’s stability.
11. Perform a safety check each time before you ride.

Whenever possible, it is a good idea to ride on familiar tracks. If you’re not confident that you can negotiate a particular stretch of terrain, go another way around. You need to think about the position of any drains or other obstacles ahead of you. Also the nature of the surface affects how you ride the ATV. You need to be very careful when riding the ATV on wet tarseal roads, as the slippery road surface may be difficult to handle. Similarly steep slopes, especially when wet, can easily cause the ATV to roll over.

Tractors

After mastering the farmbike, the next likely demand from the junior lifestyleblocker is to drive the tractor  if you have one. Be aware that it is illegal for a child under 12 years of age to drive a tractor or ride on one when it is towing any implement, unless it is a trailer designed to carry passengers.Training a child to drive a tractor is a much more extensive exercise than teaching them how to handle a farm bike. This is a seriously big chunk of farm machinery and it can cause seriously big chunks of damage when it runs amuck!

You can train your kids to drive the tractor in much the same way as outlined for the bike training exercise. But even when they have learned to drive the machine, there are a lot of safety measures that need to be taken  ones that you should be undertaking if you have small children with access to the tractor. Ensure that everyone working on the farm is thoroughly familiar with operating procedures and safety requirements. A tractor can roll over and crush the driver. Hands, hair and clothing can be caught by unguarded power take-off shafts. People can fall from a moving tractor or be struck by its wheels. These types of accidents can be prevented by keeping the tractor in good repair, fitting safety equipment and by operating the tractor safely at all times.

One of the very first ways of doing this should be: when starting and reversing machinery, always check – where are the children? It even pays to get down and walk around the tractor before reversing out of the implement shed as that is a favourite place for kids to play ‘hide and seek they may just be hiding under the tractor tray. Other safety measures include:

1. When the tractor is parked, lock the brakes and remove the keys from the ignition.
2. Leave any equipment that might fall, such as a front-end loader, in the down position, with the blade resting on the ground.
3. Keep the tractor properly maintained with regular checks of brakes, tyres, steering, hydraulics as well as seat belts, safety shields and guards.
4. Always leave a tractor Power Take Off (PTO) in neutral or locked.

You should also:

• * adhere to the manufacturers’ instructions for operation
• * don’t remove or modify safety features
• * fit guards to cover the moving parts of machinery
• * only allow a worker to perform a task when you are confident they can handle it
• * keep visitors well away from operating machinery and warn them of potential hazards
• * don’t operate your tractor close to drains and other potential hazards
• * make sure that steps and control pedals are non-slip and kept clean

All moving machinery parts should be guarded so that clothing, hair or appendages can’t get caught.Power-take-off driven implements, such as hay balers and mowers, are particularly dangerous when children are around. Again it pays to walk around the tractor to check that no-one is likely to be hurt when the PTO equipment is started up. And before engaging the PTO lever, make sure that there is no object in the path of the blades or other moving parts of the equipment. Engage the PTO only from the tractor seat and if you leave, disengage the PTO lever and completely stop the tractor. Shafts on all PTO-driven equipment should be guarded at all times as this is a regular cause of injury to children.

Safety suggestions for power take-off shafts include:

• * guard the entire length of the shaft
• * anchor the shaft guard to stop it from rotating
• * enclose the joints with a guard
• * keep shields in place when using the tractor
• * don’t leave running machinery unattended

An emergency plan is vital. Ensure easy access to a suitable first aid kit and make sure at least one person on the farm is trained in first aid. You could also regard your mobile phone as part of your plant – have it with you. It also pays to keep emergency numbers next to the telephone and to plan routes to the nearest hospital. You should regularly review your emergency plan and make sure your children understand what to do.

Water

One of the biggest dangers is water a child can drown in just a few centimetres of water. Children used to playing on a section in Riccarton may be unaware of the risks that bodies of water can provide. It is a given that you supervised them very carefully on the excursions to Sumner Beach but that may not always be possible when you are busy on the farmlet.You need to identify risk areas and train your children to respect the danger that those bodies of water represent. For toddlers, these may be as small a body of water as a water trough. It does not take very long for a toddler to climb into a water trough.

More obvious hazards are farm ponds which should always be fenced as should manure pits.

Animals

The city-raised child is also unlikely to be used to being around anything more dangerous than the family Labrador. Fully-grown beef cattle can weigh several hundred kg and can inflict serious injuries to children not experienced with animals. Some points to look out for:

• * Never get between a baby animal and its mother  they are very protective of their young and may become quite aggressive.
• * Stockyards are not a safe place for children as animals in stockyards are more likely to be nervous or stressed and this can make them dangerous.
• * Always try to keep animals calm, especially when children are present. Problems can occur when animals are alarmed or annoyed and children are inadvertently likely to make them so.
• * If your children are working with animals make sure they wear sturdy footwear to avoid crushed or bruised feet. Barefoot Nikes are no protection against a rock hard hoof!
• * The same applies for horse riding, with strong, heeled boots recommended and of course an approved riding helmet.

Of course children love animals and enjoy having their own pets. However, there are risks involved when children and animals are together. It is important that children are taught the skills to play safely with animals. This is especially so with dogs as many children are admitted to hospital each year as a result of dog bites. Children under four years of age are most at risk and are often bitten by their own dog at home, usually around their face and head. To protect your children, you should always supervise them when they are near dogs. They must be taught to never disturb a dog that is eating or sleeping. Dogs should be patted only gently and never intervene between dogs that are fighting. Children should be taught to never approach a strange dog and to stand still if a dog approaches. When choosing a dog, look for a breed that suits your lifestyle and one that is safe with children.

If your child is bitten by a dog, you need to first soothe the child. If the skin has been broken, then wash the area under cold running water. Apply an antiseptic cream and then put a dressing over the wound. Take the child to the doctor for a tetanus booster and check if antibiotics are required. If the bite is more serious, like where a piece of flesh has been bitten off, you need to call an ambulance. Then you should control the bleeding by applying firm pressure to the wound with a sterile dressing until the ambulance arrives. If the child is pale or drowsy,lie them down and keep their legs raised. Do not give the child any food or water.

Cats should be treated with caution. The main health risk comes from children touching a cat’s faeces. Make sure that children don’t play in the garden area that the cat uses and that they are kept away from litter trays. Any cat bites or scratches should be thoroughly washed and disinfected. Cats must be kept from the child’s nursery as a cat can smother a baby by lying on the baby’s face while it is asleep. Children should also be taught to always wash their hands after handling animals.

Farm safety – handling animals

Farmers can easily be injured by their livestock. To help prevent accidents, you should assess the breed, temperament, gender mix, size and training of your animals. Remember that they will be more aggressive during the mating season. Plan ahead for any task. Get help if you need it, but make sure your workers and your family are adequately trained and familiar with the temperament of your animals.

You should always wear suitable protective clothing (such as steel-toed boots) and use appropriate aids such as shepherd’s crook, cradles and dogs to make the job easier and safer.

Risk assessment

You can assess potential risks in many ways, including:

• * Walk through all animal handling areas and look for hazards
• * Read over injury records to pinpoint recurring dangers
• * Talk over safety issues with workers and other animal handlers
• * Remember that inexperienced workers are more likely to be injured.

Yard design, equipment and safety

General suggestions for improving yard safety include:

• * Yards and sheds should be suitable in size and strength for the animals.
• * Avoid blind corners and sharp turns in the design of your yard.
• * Keep the walkways dry and non-slip.
• * Make sure your gates, footholds and access ways are well positioned.
• * Keep all equipment in good repair.

Cattle

Suggestions for handlingcattle include:

• * Make sure the cattle know you are approaching.
• * Take care, cows may charge to protect their calves.
• * Use separate yards for bulls during the mating season, if possible.
• * Fit bulls with nose rings.
• * Avoid the danger of crush injury make sure there’s enough room for the cattle to move.
• * Try to work beyond the kicking range of the animal or close to its body.
• * Use headrails, cradles and crushes to restrain animals when necessary.
• * Dehorn your cattle if possible.

Horses

Suggestions for handling horses include:

• * Use appropriate riding equipment that is kept in good repair.
• * Wear suitable protective clothing, including a helmet if necessary.
• * Exercise a horse before you attempt to mount, if it tends to buck.
• * Make sure that inexperienced riders aren’t teamed with aggressive or nervous horses.
• * Use dogs rather than horse riders to control animals because high speed gallops are dangerous.

Pigs

Suggestions for handling pigs include:

• * Keep boars separate at all times.
• * Use a drafting board when moving boars.
• * Use nose ropes and crushes to restrain pigs when necessary.
• * To lift a pig, sit it down facing away from you, draw it close to your body and pick it up by the back legs, making sure to lift with your thigh muscles.

Sheep

Suggestions for handling sheep include:

• * Plan musters in advance.
• * Assume that every ram will act unpredictably.
• * Use dogs to control the mob.
• * To lift a sheep, sit it down facing away from you, draw it close to your body and pick it up by the back legs, making sure to lift with your thigh muscles

Animal diseases

Many diseases can be transferred from animal to human through blood, saliva and urine. Precautions include:

• * Have your animals regularly tested and vaccinated.
• * Familiarise yourself with the symptoms of animal diseases.
• * Treat any sign of illness promptly.
• * Practise good personal hygiene.
• * Wash your hands after handling animals.
• * Cover all cuts and open wounds before coming in contact with animals.
• * If you come in contact with animal blood, urine or saliva, wash well with soap, water and antiseptic.
• * Don’t feed offal to dogs.

In an emergency, always call 111 for an ambulance.

Things to remember:

• * Animals are unpredictable, especially during the mating season.
• * Make sure yards, sheds and equipment are in good repair.
• * Ensure that workers and your family are appropriately trained and familiar with the temperament of the animals.

Chemicals

Chemicals, poisons,pesticides and animal pharmaceuticals should be stored in a locked area which is out of sight and reach of children. You need to take care when storing, transporting and using chemicals to ensure your own safety and that of your children. Any chemical should be treated with extreme caution, since vapours or direct exposure can lead to a variety of health effects. Hazardous materials are required by law to include a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and a label.The MSDS gives valuable information on how to safely handle the chemical as well as precautions for use and possible health effects. It will also have contact numbers where you can obtain further information.

Agricultural chemicals may be pure or diluted. Commonly used agricultural chemicals include such nasties as: 1080 poison, Cresol, Organophosphoruspesticides, Pyrethroids, Methyl bromide, Tryquat and even Strychnine. You can sometimes further reduce the hazardous chemicals by replacing them with less toxic options. A safer form of the product may be available like pellets instead of powder.

The effects of chemical exposure depend on the type of chemical and the degree of exposure. If chemicals are swallowed, splashed on the skin or inhaled, the immediate and long term effects can include:

• * Poisoning
• * Headache
• * Nausea
• * Skin rashes and irritation
• * Chemical burns
• * Cancer
• * Birth defects
• * Diseases of the lungs, liver or kidneys
• * Nervous system disorders.

Always follow the manufacturers’ instructions for proper storage and keep chemicals in their original containers. There have been many instances of children drinking a poison stored in a soft drink bottle. For the same reason, don’t remove labels from containers. Store chemicals in a well ventilated shed, fitted with locks and floors that do not allow seepage. It pays to also separate different classes of chemicals to prevent adverse chemical reactions.

Store animal feeds, seed sand fertilisers separately from chemicals to prevent tcontamination. Have mop-up materials like sand or soil always handy. Keep sources of fire well away from chemicals and make sure the area is well ventilated. It is a good idea to keep a record of the chemicals you buy, store,use and replace so you know what is where and their use-by dates.

Electricity

Electric fences,especially cattle fences, can be dangerous for younger children. Electricity is essential and is safe if used with care and respect. However, electrical installations and equipment on farms are often unsuitable when located in wet,outdoor conditions. Consequently there have been many farm fatalities due to electrical accidents. Portable electrical equipment together with extension cables and overhead power lines are the major causes of electrical fatalities.

The following are the main causes of electrical accidents:

1. the electrical plug contains a loose earth
2. unsuitable domestic plugs are used
3. temporary taped joints are used on extension cables
4. repairs are carried out by incompetent persons
5. incorrect fuses are used (including silver foil)
6. frayed cable insulations
7. too high electric fence voltages where the fence earth electrode was too near the farm installation earth electrode
8. erection of buildings under or near power lines
9. operating high rise machinery in the vicinity of overhead power lines
10. electrical switch boxes and wiring should be kept out of reach of children

If your child is being shocked with a household current:

• * Don’t touch the victim unless the power is off.
• * Unplug the appliance, or turn the power off at the main control area.
• * If you can’t turn off the power, use a dry wooden broom handle to separate the victim from the power source.
• * Call 111 or get emergency medical assistance.
• * If the victim is not breathing, perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
• * If the victim is conscious, keep them calm; lay them on their back; elevate their feet and cover them with a blanket.

If someone is being shocked with a current from an outdoor high voltage line:

1. Don’t try to separate the victim from the power source.

2. Don’t touch the victim unless you are absolutely certain the victim is not in contact with electrical wire.

Pests

Another hazard that can surprise children used to city life, is the likelihood of finding beehives or wasp nests on your lifestyle block. To reduce the risks of stings or bites, keep children away from insect nests. Contact your local council for help in removing the nest. If your child is stung, try to keep the child still and calm. Try to see if it was a wasp or bee that did the deed.Bees leave a sting, wasps do not. If you can see the barb left by the bee, use a fingernail or the blunt edge of a knife in a flicking motion to remove the sting. But dont dig into the skin. Put ice in a wet cloth and place it on the stung area. If pain and swelling persist, take the child to a doctor.

Some children may have an allergic reaction to bee, wasp or ant stings. This may result in breathing difficulties and can be life threatening. If you know a child to be allergic to stings, make sure they wear a medical-alert bracelet and always have the prescribed medication handy.

Confined Spaces

Any confined space on a farmlet poses a particular danger, especially to children,because the threat may not be apparent until it’s too late. Tanks, vats, wells,manure pits and other enclosed structures can suffocate a child through vapours, dust or low oxygen levels. There is the additional danger that any rescuer coming to the aid of someone who has collapsed inside a confined space can often be overcome too. Harmful fumes or low oxygen atmospheres are common in many confined spaces on farms. The safest approach with any confined space is to prevent children getting in there. Sewers and manure pits present extra dangers with gases such as methane and hydrogen sulphide likely to build up inside manure pits and displace the oxygen. Safety suggestions include:

• * Cover pits securely and post warning signs.
• * Include natural or mechanical ventilation in the pit’s design.
• * Try to devise ways to clean the pit from the outside.
• * Keep ignition sources well away from the pit, as methane and hydrogen sulphide are flammable.
• * If you must go inside the pit, wear self-contained breathing apparatus.

Another safety hazard is underground tunnels (tomos)and wells. Children can be attracted to such places as they are interesting places to play. You should:

1. Make wells and underground tunnels strictly out-of-bounds as play areas
2. Warn children of the dangers.
3. Cover or fence entrances securely and post warning signs.
4. Put a lid on the tank so animals and debris can’t fall in.