Spring has sprung, and tilling the soil and planting crops are in full swing on the farm. Children who live on farms are a special concern at any time of the year, but especially during the busy times when parents and workers can be easily distracted by planting deadlines, breakdowns, weather concerns and other pressing issues.

Did you know that over 100 children die in farm accidents and more than 100,000 are seriously injured every year? This fact is a shock to most people that don't realize that farms are the second most hazardous workplace in the United States . Family farms comprise more than 80% of farms and with farm economics a key factor today, children are either an important part of the work force or are being watched by working parents.

A recent email from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) described three childhood fatalities in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania . The first one involved a 3-year old boy whose father allegedly ran over him with a front end loader after the child fell out of the vehicle's bucket. In this case the father was arrested on charges of child endangerment, reckless endangerment and reckless driving. Less than a month after this incident 2 toddlers were killed in separate farm accidents while under their parents' supervision. The first one involved a 2-year old boy who was run over by a plowing disc when his father tried to start a tractor attached to the implement. On the same day in a nearby county, another 2-year old boy was crushed after falling from a horse-drawn wagon that his 6-year old brother was driving while his father and mother walked alongside and cleared stones from a field.

As I reflect on these and thousands of disabling injuries that occur to farm children every year, I can't help but ask, "Isn't it time to take this issue of children in the farm workplace seriously?" Enough is enough!

Part of the problem is that we have typically oversimplified the solution to farm safety problems. If a child is riding on a tractor or other farm implement, falls off and is run over, the solution is not simply to tell parents and children that no extra riders are permitted on farm tractors. Sometimes tough questions need to be asked, for example:

• How old was the child?
• Who was driving the tractor?
• If it was a parent, where was the other parent?
• Were there other safe places this child could have been?
• Are child care facilities accessible and affordable for the farm family?
• Do local schools offer school programs to help support the needs of farm families where both spouses are working on and off the farm to make things work financially?
• Was the child taught how to drive the machine?
• Was the task age appropriate given the child's developmental and cognitive skills?
• Did the tractor have a cab?
• Was there a buddy seat?

I challenge parents, leaders of farm organizations and rural leaders to step forward and recognize that the farm workplace is a potentially dangerous environment and that solutions need to be developed to prevent such tragic mishaps. I hope that many of you are now thinking, "Enough is enough". Until that happens and we work together to develop practical and realistic solutions, we are going to continue to see such tragedies to toddlers and young children as described in the opening paragraphs of this article.

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D., Chair for the National Safe Kids Coalition once said, "If a disease were killing our children in the proportions that injuries are, people would be outraged and demand that this killer be stopped". I challenge every farm parent and farm leader to get involved in childhood injury prevention today! Demand that "this killer be stopped".