FARM AND HOME SAFETY EXPO

In 1996, the National Committee for Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention established a plan to address the issue of child safety and one of the planned objectives was to ensure that the public be made aware of general childhood agricultural safety issues through education.  Opportunities that are focused on educating and informing children in this age group about the dangers and preventative measures can serve to reduce the numbers of accidents and hopefully avoid related fatalities. With these safety concerns in mind, a community based committee was formed in northeast Arkansas in 1999.  One of the goals of this committee was to address child safety related to agriculture and the home.  Since that time the committee has set out to offer an annual event to children with the purpose of educating them about safety issues related to agriculture.  

The first agricultural safety event for children in the northeast region of Arkansas took place in April of 1999. Attendance warranted continuance of this event annually.  The second annual event adopted the title of The 2000 Farm and Home Safety Expo which took place in March of 2000 at the Craighead County Fairgrounds. The 2000 event was even more successful with over 160 children and their teachers participating.  The committee felt that a key to the 2000 event's success was focusing on a specific age group.  After the success of the 2000 Expo, plans were made to enlarge this group by expanding the number of schools invited to attend.

So as of 2008 we have held 9 successful Farm and Home Safety Expos and reached closed to 3000 fifth grade students and their teachers with a message of how to live, work and play safely while at home or visiting farms in our state. Our hope is to continue to offer this annual event with the focus on a quality, educational program that provides information on safety so that when our region’s children are confronted with an unsafe situation they will be prepared to make the safe and right decision.