It is that time of year when children break up for the six-week holidays, and for parents, the challenge begins!
I can hark back to ‘better times’ when we all used to disappear on our bicycles and return filthy and knackered when the streetlights came on, and in reality, we would probably all not necessarily admit to the scrapes and near death experiences we got into!
So, what does this mean for us in terms of Health and Safety? Well, I refer back to a lot of advice I was giving over the last few summers when our ‘workplaces’ were all the more also used by ‘staycationers’ which we usually didn’t have to worry about in any great number as they would be off sunning themselves on the beaches of wherever! Whether it be the use of footpaths, authorised (or non authorised!) accessing of our premises, little Jonny and his mate causing havoc etc!
In the industry we often learn of accidents and fatalities and the details surrounding it. Nothing hits harder than an accident involving a child. Some of the most harrowing stories involve family members. There are some useful videos that you can find online for educating and reminding our employees.
Apart from the obvious though, how do we educate the kids? Obviously for children living on sites, premises, farms etc this needs to be ingrained into their psyche from an early age – I will stop short of telling anyone how to raise their children! But the stories are there, ‘following Daddy’ ‘wanted to be part of what was going on’ etc. For children living in a more traditional environment it is important that they understand the risks around them and what they can mean for them.
I was recently reading an industry magazine who were reporting on a brilliant new series of books which have been written for children regarding a whole range of Health and Safety Topics. They seem to include workplace type topics – farms, construction sites etc but also more mainstream topics such as fire safety, road safety, and Cybersafety.
You can find more information/purchase the books at: www.samandsue.com
There is more information available at: https://www.rospa.com/school-college-safety/teaching-safety/ten-principles and https://www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/childs-play-statement.htm
Agriculture: https://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/topics/children.htm