Students to shine light on farm safety with calendar competition

Education and Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace has launched the 2019 farm safety calendar competition as part of Governing from Mackay this week, with students from Eton State School.

Ms Grace said the competition, run by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, was a big hit with students in rural and regional Queensland.

“I am so pleased to join students from Eton State School at the Kinchant Outdoor Education Centre to launch the farm safety calendar competition,” Ms Grace said.

“This competition aims to raise awareness among primary school children and their communities of hazards on farms and rural properties.

“Students are encouraged to draw pictures about good health and safety practices on farms and enter their masterpieces in the hope of making it into the 2019 edition of the calendar.

“Last year, we had more than 700 entries from across the state but this year I’d like to see even more students getting involved.

“One of the successful entries from last year was Alex Neaton, a Year 3 student at Eton State School.

“Alex’s colourful entry made it into the calendar as the image for April, depicting cattle being rounded up along with a message about not standing behind animals because of how ‘unpredictable’ they can be.”

Ms Grace said entries in the 2019 farm safety calendar competition must be lodged online by 29 June, with the winners to be announced in October.

“Each of the 12 winners will receive a $250 voucher, with an additional $500 voucher going to the school,” she said.

“This year’s safety topics are Quad bikes, motorbikes and machinery; Animal handling; Sun safety and healthy lifestyle; and Kids on farms.”

Ms Grace said while only three per cent of Queenslanders work on farms, more than 30 per cent of work-related deaths occur in a farming environment.

“The real tragedy is just about of all of these deaths are preventable,” she said.

“This calendar competition is a fun and informative way to show our future farmers that these mishaps can be prevented with a little extra care and planning.

“We’ll print and distribute 20,000 copies of the calendar – so for those who hang one proudly in their homes or workplaces, they are a year-long reminder to be farm safe.”

Details on how to enter the competition and previous winning entries are available at www.worksafe.qld.gov.au

Media contact: Emma Carey 0439 578 472