A program designed to increase young people’s understanding of OH and S practices on farms is enjoying increasing success with school students in the Hunter region.

Tocal Agricultural College developed the Tocal Future Farmer program in 2002 in a bid to link student programs with general farm awareness initiatives among school students in the Hunter region.

While the Future Farmer program includes a range of practical safety topics such as tractor safety and manual handling on farms, the overarching aim is to use Tocal students to help increase schools’ rural safety awareness.

“A lot of local school students either come from farms or work on farms in the area around the college and this program gives us a chance to improve their OH and S in the farm environment,” Tocal’s education advisory officer Bob Dunn explained.

“By using some Tocal students enrolled in courses such as Tocal Certificate IV, we give them the dual benefit of gaining necessary hands-on experience in implementing OH and S, and providing on the job training support.”

To help prepare both the Tocal students and school students for the program, training starts with sessions on managing farm safety, OH and S laws, reporting and risk assessment.

A WorkCover inspector also presents a session on the responsibilities of a farm manager, and related OH and S issues on-farm.

“The next phase involves the Tocal students preparing and then delivering learning sessions for school groups here at Tocal during Future Farmers Day, where the school students get practical, hands-on demonstrations with animals and equipment,” Mr Dunn said.

“We assess their OH and S presentation skills and the quality of their handout materials with the help of the Gresford Farmsafe group.

“The most positive aspect of this program for Tocal students is that it links their previous training into a tangible outcome – they recall knowledge, pass it on to younger students and learn about training methods all at the same time.”

Initially piloted in 2002, the Tocal Future Farmer program now has support from a range of other departments including Dungog High School, WorkCover, Gresford Farmsafe Committee, Moree Heath Unit and Hunter Area Health Service.

Five successful programs have been completed, with the 2006 event catering for more than 100 students from Dungog, Cessnock, Rutherford and Raymond Terrace.

Tocal Certificate IV student Bonita Thorssell said while she was initially nervous about presenting to high school students, their enthusiastic response was encouraging.

“I didn’t realise how much background work is needed before training other people until we went through the program, and it also helped me learn more about farm safety during our preparations,” she said.

Contact Bob Dunn, Paterson, (02) 4939 8832.