According to the 2016 childhood Agricultural Injuries Fact Sheet complied by the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, every three days a child dies in an ag-related incident and each day 33 experience some sort of injury.  The leading cause of fatalities include machinery, primarily tractors (25%); motor vehicles/ATV’s (17%) and drowning (16%). 

            Recognized as the largest rural safety and health program for children in North America, Progressive Ag Safety Day Programs to date has reached more than 1.7 million children and adults. The Hardin County Extension Service recently completed their 10^th consecutive year partnering with the Progressive Agriculture Foundation to offer this outstanding safety education event. 

            Thanks to the support and generosity from local volunteers, businesses and community organizations 457 4^th grade students attended the two day event in 2018. Students rotated between ten different safety stations and received a packet of safety & nutritional resource material to take home to their parents.  Evaluations conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health showed that participants increased and retained their safety knowledge when ask one year later as compared to those who did not attend. The most significant increases in knowledge and decrease in risky behavior occurred with participants ranging in age from 8-13 years. 

            With ten years of safety day programs at the 4^th grade level, we are now reaching younger siblings of previous years participants. During the animal (dog) safety station, one participant shared with instructors that thanks to an older sibling attending an earlier safety day program, they were able to head off a potentially serious dog attack. You never know when a life might be saved as a result of having attended a safety day program.         

            Adult and teen volunteers are key as over 90% said the experience was rewarding and over 80% said they would return again next year.   One of the indirect benefits of the safety day is that it enhances safety awareness within a community and brings many individuals and organizations together to achieve a common goal.