Abstract

Objectives Agriculture is known to have one of the most dangerous workplaces in Sweden with a high number of injuries, both fatal and non-fatal every year. This is the same situation as in many other countries over the whole world. A farm is not only a workplace – it is also a home for the family and for the children growing up. Each year a there is a number of fatalities involving children on farms during play, work or as bystanders – it is not acceptable that children are killed on work places. It is a tough struggle for farm parents to give their children a safe and secure childhood in this dangerous environment which also has a lot of positive factors. Living close to the nature, experiencing the changes of the seasons and being close to the parents are among the positive things – growing up on a farm. Many parents on farms have been asking for advice on how to make their farm safer for their children and how to make safe play areas for small children away from the major dangers on the farm. With financial support from the The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA), it has been possible to start a study on these issues. Methods This project is collecting data from a number of different resources, such as recommendations and regulations regarding play areas. Experiences and recommendations from other countries on safe play areas are important to include, such as the Farm Safe Australia and The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, Wisconsin, USA. Most important is however to involve the Swedish farm families with their experiences, needs, ideas and solutions. In order to collect the Swedish experiences a number of farm visits (with children under the age of 10 years old) have been done during this summer in the southern parts of Sweden. Results The preliminary results from the farm visits including interviews with parents, children and sometimes other relatives shows that there is a big need for recommendations on simple, but safe play areas for small children. On some farms there were good examples on safe play areas, but others had their children playing in many different locations around the farm. During the autumn 2012 final recommendations with examples from farms will be published and distributed to farm families by the farmer organizations, media and students at agricultural schools as well as the agricultural university.

Published in

Landskap, trädgård, jordbruk : rapportserie
2012, number: 2012:16, pages: 113-113
Title: Health and Safety in Agriculture : Nordic and world-wide perspectives
ISBN: 978-91-87117-15-2
Publisher: Arbetsvetenskap, Ekonomi och Miljöpsykologi (AEM), Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet

Conference

Nordic Meeting on Agricultural Occupational Health & Safety 2012

SLU Authors

• Svennefelt, Wiveca

  • Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Lundqvist, Peter

  • Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Environmental Health and Occupational Health


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/53042