He compares the difference between mining and agriculture accidents to the difference between deaths in plane crashes and deaths in cars. Mining accidents and plane crashes receive a great deal of publicity even though, in general, they cause fewer deaths than car and agriculture accidents do. Since fewer people at a time are affected it seems less dramatic. The total number of farming accidents exceeds those in any other occupation. A third reason the department wanted to introduce the course was so that all students could carry out class assignments, whether at the Agriculture Stewardship Center or in the greenhouse, safely and knowledgeably.
Students learn how to operate equipment and come to understand electrical safety.
They also learn about the dangers of pesticides and chemicals used in agriculture. And they learn CPR and basic first aid. Teaching the course the first time confirmed its value for Bajema. He began by asking his students how many of them had experienced or known someone in a farm accident. Almost everyone in the room related an experience that had affected someone close to them.