Little boy dies on farm in Fife.

[Badshot]

This is too painful too for words.

Can we try and turn this into a thread about tips and tricks to keep children safe as a way to stop this happening again. Children will get out and they haven't developed the skills to evaluate risk - we need to help them and contain risks they are exposed to.

Maybe simple things like @Flossie telling the apprentice to drive slower, she knows - as we all do that children will get out.

My suggestion - put the child in a cab and lay their favourite toy in a blind spot, sit them on your knee and show them how easy it is to drive over it without seeing?

That last bit is a good suggestion, but would probably require the toy to be driven over for full effect.

 

[llamedos]

Agree with all your post ....

and perhaps a new thread could be started please @llamedos ?

As requested.

https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/keeping-children-safe-on-the-farm.158888/

 

[Sid]

Picture of the child on bbc news looks like its taken in a telescopic handler of some description.

Now i would argue the safest place for a child around machines is either in a passenger seat or in the house.

 

[GenuineRisk]

Oh Lord, how tragic - sincere condolences to the family and other connections. Horrific.

 

[milkloss]

Yea I meant visibility,

The bigger the kit the more blind spaces sadly.

Not so much that imo but the reduction in farm staff over the years. More eyes and less tail chasing.

 

[Juggler]

Every parents worst nightmare, unbearable to imagine what the family and the driver involved are going through, I can only convey my deepest sympathy and condolences at this terrible time.

We have had our 4 grow up on our small farm, and as safety conscious as I am, we still had more than one occasion where one of them would turn up on the yard having decided in the blink of an eye that they needed to go and help Dad so off they went from the house.

Yes they could always see you, but what I always tried to show them was that I could not always see them.

 

[johnspeehs]

Absolutely tragic and my deepest sympathy goes out to this poor family but I'm afraid it won't be the last time it happens, people just never learn , one of the bigger contractors in this area is seen regularly with up to 3 small children in the cab with them, it's just an accident waiting to happen but if you said a word to them you would get what for, for being a busy buddy.More enforcement of the law needed as well some common sense.

 

[chickens and wheat]

As a student the bosses kids were allowed free range of the whole farmyard, one day I was throwing little bales from a trailer into a pen full of cattle, observing a little kid wandering into the yard. When time came to move trailer on I checked before driving and sure enough he was under the trailer, what if i hadnt spotted him from the top of the load?
The safety situation wasnt helped by the fact that the grumpy old boar knew how to lift his gate off the hinges with his nose and go for a wander around the farm.
The boss thought me an idiot and frequently told me so, but he seemed to think I was OK to supervise his kids with no notice. I was glad when my tour of duty finished at that place.

 

[holywell farmer]

A three-year-old boy has died after he was knocked down by a tractor on a farm in Fife.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-38980973


Thoughts go out to his Family and all involved.

Awful such young life lost

 

[Flossie]

You won't like this but if you know that your bigger kids are lifting the little ones over the fence into a busy yard and you haven't put the fear of god into them then you are playing with fire.

Initially, yes, it did upset me a bit, but reading my post back, it does sound like I sit back and watch them go I can assure you, they frequently get told. In fairness, they are very good and stay in the garden, but occasionally the oldest takes it upon herself to try for an adventure-as Juggler says below.

We have had our 4 grow up on our small farm, and as safety conscious as I am, we still had more than one occasion where one of them would turn up on the yard having decided in the blink of an eye that they needed to go and help Dad so off they went from the house.

Yes they could always see you, but what I always tried to show them was that I could not always see them.

We had a talk this morning on the way to the auction, about the little boy who died yesterday when he got squashed by a tractor. I told them you don't get up again if a tractor squashes you, and I don't want to bury any of them in the graveyard. The graveyard bit seemed to hit home.
As for playing with fire, every minute looking after kids feels like it. All day long you are constantly risk assessing and telling them don't do this, don't do that. At the auction today, "mind that hosepipe, watch out for the cows, don't fall through the front rail, watch out for wagons"-it's a feckin nightmare.
I grew up on a farm and I look back at what we got up to There's a certain truth in that you have to scare yourself before you learn. You have to assess your kids and weigh up what is age appropriate. The problems arise when the older ones try to get the younger ones to do the same things.
I agree that a farm is a place of work, but it's also the kid's home. We're lucky enough to live here, and I want the kids to enjoy it too, so I have to help them learn about the dangers. Otherwise we might as well live in a terrace in the town.
Friends are another issue-it's one thing teaching your own, but when friends come round all they see is a massive playground. So much so, I try to send our kids to their friends rather than them coming here. Hard enough looking after your own, never mind other people's

 

[Juggler]

Don't beat yourself up over it @Flossie your post really brought a lump to my throat, trying to explain the finality of death.. it's bloody hard and upsetting for them and for us, and your right, every minute with a small child out in the big wide world is one big risk assessment and bloody nerve wracking for most parents.

 

[marcot]

Initially, yes, it did upset me a bit, but reading my post back, it does sound like I sit back and watch them go I can assure you, they frequently get told. In fairness, they are very good and stay in the garden, but occasionally the oldest takes it upon herself to try for an adventure-as Juggler says below.

We had a talk this morning on the way to the auction, about the little boy who died yesterday when he got squashed by a tractor. I told them you don't get up again if a tractor squashes you, and I don't want to bury any of them in the graveyard. The graveyard bit seemed to hit home.
As for playing with fire, every minute looking after kids feels like it. All day long you are constantly risk assessing and telling them don't do this, don't do that. At the auction today, "mind that hosepipe, watch out for the cows, don't fall through the front rail, watch out for wagons"-it's a feckin nightmare.
I grew up on a farm and I look back at what we got up to There's a certain truth in that you have to scare yourself before you learn. You have to assess your kids and weigh up what is age appropriate. The problems arise when the older ones try to get the younger ones to do the same things.
I agree that a farm is a place of work, but it's also the kid's home. We're lucky enough to live here, and I want the kids to enjoy it too, so I have to help them learn about the dangers. Otherwise we might as well live in a terrace in the town.
Friends are another issue-it's one thing teaching your own, but when friends come round all they see is a massive playground. So much so, I try to send our kids to their friends rather than them coming here. Hard enough looking after your own, never mind other people's

What a great post!

 

[Penmoel]

We have brought 4 kids up here and Flossie has it right you are constantly watching out for them and the risk is always there.

This thread made me say to my youngest 20, to watch out for our grandchildren who, from now on may be about, both of them currently 2 years old so will be wandering about more and more this summer. I am afraid I am a great believer that they are much safer in the cab with you if the tractor is moving and would far rather see them there than running around or not knowing where they were.

Deepest condolences to the family, unimaginable what they are going through.

 

[Sid]

Life's full of risks.
Mrs took little one to indoor soft play place, something had come loose and a screw poking up and she stood on it. No serious damage but the what if scenario runs through your mind. The staff just put a plaster on it and duck taped the screw!