It's The Margins That Matter
OPINION: It appears to be difficult for people who haven’t tried to run a business to understand the difference between assets and cash.
The farm deaths tended to involve the ‘mature’ (possibly slightly beyond the prime of life) and the inexperienced, but whatever the age, ten people dying because of farm accidents is more than anybody wants.
The problem: farms are complex environments and people make mistakes. They make them on roads as well, of course, and on beaches.
But on roads and beaches people are considered to be making personal choices, however stupid those choices might be.
On farm, the choices are made for work reasons, which mean WorksafeNZ is involved. It also means employers are liable for accidents.
Now the liability is being extended to farm workers’ families – their partners, children and friends. The new workplace health and safety law, due to be brought in mid-year, is already causing discussion about how employers and parents will manage and whether children should be confined to ‘house and garden’.
The irony is that in towns, where children are confined, research is being done to see how self-management can be increased by removing restrictions.
PLAY was the brainchild of Professor Grant Schofield at Auckland University of Technology. It involved eight primary schools and when the project ended the story went viral on the internet and featured in publications including The Economist.
Schofield says the modern day has created a paradox: “in the pursuit of safety and well-being for our beloved children, we make them less safe in the long run. The right time to learn how to manage risk and manage emotions is when you are eight years old, up a tree or in a fight with the kid next door, rather than when you are in a Subaru WRC at 18 with the cops after you and a few beers on board.”
Investigations are also underway into why farmers’ children have fewer allergies than urban children. Massey University is examining the effects of drinking raw milk; in America the University of Wisconsin has taken a broader approach and is looking at the micro-organisms involved with farm life – the soil and animals, for instance.
Overall the consensus appears to be that farm children are healthier than their urban counterparts.
Banning children from farms will have considerable consequences.
The first one is the effect on current employees. Part of the pleasure and satisfaction in farming is having family around. If the children aren’t around that aspect vanishes and a considerable component of the lifestyle has gone. Already concerns are being raised about the ability to attract people into the industry. If children are banned from farms, the problems will increase.
Secondly, yet more people will grow up not having farming in their blood, and not wanting to get involved as a career. Jeanette Mulvey, editor for BusinessNewsDaily suggests, “There’s a reason farmers’ children became farmers, and butchers’ children became butchers. They learned from their parents by working with them, talking to them and learning a vocation over many years.”
Thirdly, even more people may develop allergies and may struggle to learn to self-manage – not understanding risks and limits.
Of course, the bottom line is that children die on farms. In particular, the Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee reported last year that 33 children were killed in off-road vehicle accidents between 2002 and 2012: 15 died on motorcycles and 12 on quads. Two thirds of the children were operating the vehicles alone.
Children also die in swimming pools, rivers, beaches, on roads and on driveways. Sad, but a consequence of living.
Guidance is required everywhere, not just on farm. But total restriction is not the answer.
