Review staff
One of Rimbey’s bigger corporate citizens launched a new DVD examining farm safety procedures for children aged six to 12 last Thursday morning at the Bluffton School.
Produced through a partnership with the Alberta Farm Safety Centre in Raymond, ConocoPhillips added some financial help to the project as well as plenty of support.
“We’re doing a launch of the Alberta Farm Safety video for school-aged children that ConocoPhillips has sponsored,” said Leon Heck, Operations Leader for the Rimbey North district of ConocoPhillips. “There was a program that was around for a while, but Conoco stepped in and re-did the video. It’s all about safety for kids in rural Alberta.”
Heck said the idea of re-doing the safety video was conceived in the Rimbey area and the company wanted to debut it locally, leaving the Bluffton School as a logical choice.
“The video basically, is all about safety in the oil and gas industry and all about their farm practices,” Heck said. “It touches on ATVs, chemical safety, grain handling, oil and gas, electrical, farm machinery, where and what not to play around, and that sort of thing.”
Heck acknowledged that in light of the farming, most rural areas in Canada are dangerous places for young children; Alberta has the added threat of the oil and gas industry that is located predominantly in rural areas as well.
“It can be very dangerous for kids in rural areas,” he said. “If they’re trying to play around equipment that’s moving, it’s no different than playing around a tractor that’s driving down the middle of a field.”
He said while the DVD covers plenty of ground, one of the most applicable sections deals with the safe operation of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and how easy it is to be injured or worse if safety procedures are not followed when operating the popular recreation vehicles.
“There’s been what, five people killed already this year under the age of 14 in Alberta on ATVs, so it’s part of the video too,” Heck said. “The video is a real good thing and it’s going to hit everywhere in Alberta – all the schools eventually will get a copy of it.”
Heck said copies of the DVD should be available at most schools however the public is invited to drop by the Rimbey offices of ConocoPhillips if they’d like a copy for themselves.