I'm behind on my Needs Statement for class, so I figured I'd add it before I move on to the next thing.
Youth Farm Safety is an ever growing concern within the agriculture community.
During 2004, a youth was helping his family around the farm. The young man was hitching a hay wagon to a family owned truck. When the young man lifted the hitch off the ground to hook onto the ball, the hay wagon began to roll forward. Before the youth could get it hitched, the trailer pinned the youth between the hay wagon and truck, crushing the youth's head. This caused the young man to lose his life instantly.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, during the years of 1995 and 2002, 907 youths died while working on the farm. These youth were between the ages of 16 and 19 years old. During the year of 2006, there were an estimated 22,900 injuries occuring to youth who either lived on, worked on, or in some cases were only visiting farms. About half of those injuries were to youth who were living on the farms. Over 10,000 of the injuries reported were to youth between the ages of 10 and 15 years. Thus, it is vital to begin educating the youth of the United States at an early age. The most common types of injuries seen were fractures (27%)and cuts (21%). The body parts most commonly seen injured were the arm (19%), leg (16%), and hand, wrist, and finger (14%).
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommend that time should be devoted to disussing farm safety with children. They also recommend to teach children how to handle and work with animals safely.
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It is remarkable that labor laws don't seem to apply to farm kids, working with dangerous, even deadly equipment, on the "family farm." At the very least, these kids should have some sort of regulated training in the occupational safety of a farm before they are allowed anywhere near the equipment. I know when America was being founded that this sort of family labor was essential, but I think, at least as long as we still are subsidizing farms to not produce crops, kids should be off limits for this type of labor. Should be interesting to see where you can go with this.
ReplyDeleteGood job bringing in relevant statistics. It really helps to drive home the severity of this problem. I like that you started with an anecdote, but I was somewhat put off by referring to the kid as "the youth." I think an actual first name would have been better and more touching. This is a good start to your needs statement. I think you can continue to work on the section that talks about your organization. It feels a little brief - stating what they want to do but not addressing why they are the right ones to do this. Maybe a little more information here about the organization and its capability or history. Also don'f forget your needs statement needs to actually ask for a specific amount of money and state to what end the money will be put.
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