JA:2021-18. Health & Safety Education in Swedish Agricultural Schools

Purpose: Agriculture and forestry is still one of the sectors with the highest rate of work-related injuries, and it is essential that future farmers and employees in the agricultural sector, at an early stage, gain knowledge and insight into the importance of the work environment for safe, secure, and good working conditions in order to create an improved safety culture. The purpose of this study was to survey and analyze the occupational health and safety education provided at Swedish agricultural high schools (16–19 years-of-age). Method: All 29 schools with agricultural programs received surveys, with slightly different content for principals, operating managers, teachers, and instructors with questions about education, teaching materials, communication, and related issues. Results/Findings: The results (response rate 33%) showed that the agricultural high schools had a high standard of safety awareness and well-established procedures for injuries and incidents, and this was well known and perceived as well-functioning procedures by the staff in this study, with a tendency for the instructors to be less satisfied with the follow-ups and actions taken. The basic work environment education placed within the general course “Natural resources management” showed a varying amount of lessons due to the lack of specified minimum teaching time and difficulties in finding adequate teaching material. The widely differing backgrounds of the teachers and their sometimes low motivation for owning initiatives to develop this subject give further argument to the need for relevant and coherent literature. Altogether the results also indicated that teaching in the subject courses (such as “Farm animals” and “Agricultural mechanization”) generally did not take into account the evolving role to be played regarding work environment issues, according to the syllabus’s objective description and central content. Possible explanations could be teaching materials lacking connection and update to current course objectives, individual teachers’ interest in the matter, and/or ambiguities about what is to be taught in the actual course. The insight into how important the instructors or trainers in the practical farming at schools are as role models should lead to increased focus on training them further in health & safety issues. Practical application: The results of this study show that the education regarding health & safety at agricultural schools has some problems regarding the amount and quality of the content. There is a need for improvements and it needs to be further prioritized in the agricultural schools which often form the basic knowledge for the future of our farmers.