A new roadshow focused on farm safety hopes to inspire a new generation of rural kids to look at health and safety with ¡®open eyes, not an eye roll and a sigh¡¯.
Members of our Aoraki team joined dozens of other partner agencies and organisations last month for Think Safe Brain, a farm safety day for local tamariki and their families.
Fairlie Primary School hosted the event and welcomed students from surrounding MacKenzie area primary schools.
Sergeant Cam McBride said it was a great day with lots of hands-on learning opportunities.
¡°The children took part in 11 different modules throughout the day, including gun, fire and power line safety, as well as farm machinery and chemicals,¡± Cam says.
¡°At lunchtime they were treated to a display by the Fairlie Volunteer Fire Brigade, who demonstrated what happens when they have to cut people out of a car.¡±
Constable Kiha Rigby and Arms Officer John Wainwright delivered a firearm safety module, Senior Constable Deb Quested covered road safety and Sergeant Dave Hinde and Senior Constable Russell Halkett helped with an obstacle course, where the kids climbed through a police car as a part of the course.
Think Safe Brain is a farm safety roadshow designed for rural kids by , a children¡¯s book author and rural health safety advocate. Harriet was widowed five years ago, at the age of 28, when her husband was tragically killed in a farm accident. Since then she has written a series of children¡¯s books and hosted a wide range of events all with the aim of changing attitudes towards health and safety, particularly in a rural setting.