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Farm Safe Schools – Scoil Mhuire Moynalty 4^th & 5^th Class

We were delighted when Ms Clarke told us that Ms Ormiston had registered us for the Farm Safe Schools Initiative!! With so many in the class with a farming background, it was very important for us to check and see that we were following all the safety rules that are in place on farms.

Module 1

Topic 1 The Farm Visit checklist.

When Ms Clarke asked us to tell her how we could keep safe on a farm, we were able to tell her the most common safety rules to follow. We did not realise that there was so much more that we should be doing. Ms Clarke then spoke to us about what “we need to know, before we go”.  We learned all about how important it is to wear the correct safety footwear and clothes especially hi visibility clothing as there is a lot of machinery moving around the farm. The first thing that we can admit to being surprised at was not to go on a farm alone. Many of the children admitted that they sometimes wander around the farm alone. We have now pledged that we will try not to do this in future, and we are now aware of the dangers of doing so.

Topic 2 Knowing about the safety signs.

Ms Clarke then spoke about the different zones on the farm. We wrote the different zones up on the board and we were able to come up with a lot of the possible dangers that were in each zone.  We used our farm safety signs to signal which one we thought was appropriate for each zone. We took a vote to see which zone we thought was the most dangerous. This led to a great debate in the class!! Many felt the slurry pit zone was the most dangerous. Others said that it was the chemical zone. We all agreed in the end that each zone was just as dangerous as each other because they could all cause harm to us!

We learned all about the safety signs that are needed to be displayed on a farm.  We now know that the colour of each sign is important for alerting us to danger. We learned that:

·         Red means prohibition – you are not allowed

·         Blue means mandatory – you must or have to

·         Yellow means caution/warning – beware!

·         Green means safe – safety area

Topic 3 Slurry Safety and Electricity Safety

We had a discussion on the dangers of Slurry pits in class and were ably led by Farmer B Gilsenan, Farmer Lynch, Farmer Cassidy and Farmer E Gilsenan ! They told us how important it is to keep the slurry pit fenced in or covered appropriately. They told us how there is a danger of falling into the slurry tank and how quickly you could be dragged under and potentially drown. They also told the class about the dangers of the fumes that can come out of the pit and how it is not only a danger to humans but also to animals too. Never play near a slurry pit was their sound advice. We also voted that there was a definite need of a yellow warning sign near the slurry pit. Thank you to the for boys for sharing their knowledge.

             

 

We also looked at Electrical safety.  We discussed the importance of electric fences to the farmer in his or her everyday life. We also talked about how easy it could be to hit an electric wire with all the big and tall machinery that the farmer uses on his farm. We promised Ms Clarke never to touch a fallen down electric wire and to alert an adult to the danger.

 

We really enjoyed the webinar with Alma Jordan on April 28^th. It was so interesting to learn all about Alma’s experiences.