'Farm Secure' app created to educate children on farm dangers

‘Farm Secure’ features videos and an interactive quiz to help children think about dangers of farms
‘Farm Secure’ features videos and an interactive quiz to help children think about dangers of farms

An app which helps promote farm safety to children has been released to mark the end of Farm Safety Week.

To coincide with Farm Safety Week 2017, the Farm Safety Partnership is promoting the Farm Secure App aimed at teaching children how to become safer around the farmyard.

‘Farm Secure’, developed by students at the University of Ulster’s School of Nursing, and sponsored by the FSP is aimed at Key Stage 1 pupils in P1 to P4 and features videos and an interactive quiz.

Child safety on farms is a high priority for all involved in Farm Safety Week, and with this app it is hoped will raise awareness for children living and playing on farms, therefore making all farms safer places by reducing work-related accidents which can lead to injuries or even fatalities amongst children.

Summer is a particularly dangerous time for children on farms as they’re off school and are about the farm more when work activity is running at a very high level - often with contractors on-site operating potentially dangerous vehicles and machinery.

This app can help them identify those dangers that lurk on the farmyards, and advises them on what they should and should not do when confronted with different situations.

'Vitally important'

Keith Morrison, Chairman of the Farm Safety Partnership, said: “Educating children and their families about farm safety remains vitally important, particularly at this busy time of the year.

“Technology plays an increasingly important role in education and the Farm Secure App provides a really interesting and engaging way for parents and children to learn about the many dangers on farms and how to stay safe all year round.”

Children can download the app from the App store, where they can take a quiz on farm safety, compare their scores with others on the leader-board, and watch a number of farm safety videos on issues such as slurry, machinery, farm animals and bugs and germs.

HSE Northern Ireland will be promoting this app at the start of the new school year to all the rural primary schools as part of the Child Safety on Farms campaign. Last year HSENI visited 104 schools and reached over 13,000 pupils with the farm safety message.

Further information can be also obtained from the HSENI You Tube page, where children can find various Key Stage 1 videos entitled ‘Dangerous Playgrounds’ and a Key Stage 2 video entitled ‘Farm Safe’, which will provide more advice and guidance on the farmyard for the various age groups.