Playful propane safety program caters to kids on the farm

Propane, kids and agriculture might not seem to mesh, but the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) combined these three elements this past year as it launched several educational materials to teach kids about propane safety on the farm.

Most recently, PERC unveiled its “Our Amazing Farm” three-part video series geared toward educating kids younger than age 12. The video segments – “Propane Safety,” “Play it Safe on the Farm” and “Sustainability: Creating a Better Tomorrow” – focus on how propane is used on the farm and general safety tips. In the videos, a host named Propane Paul interacts with children and other characters to teach kids about propane and agricultural safety.

“With the videos, we wanted something that wasn’t ‘cookie cutter,’” says Stuart Flatow, PERC’s vice president of safety and training. “[In the videos], Propane Paul brings the right blend of humor, energy and credibility, as well as a ‘coolness’ factor that kids of all ages will relate to.”

While propane and the agricultural equipment that runs on it might not be a daily part of a kid’s life, kids might be future propane customers. Some older kids also assist their parents with farm work, so those kids might have more direct experience with propane in an agricultural setting at a younger age, PERC adds.

According to the council, there aren’t many safety materials that address propane safety on the farm, even though propane is regularly used in agricultural applications. Flatow says PERC received a $245,000 grant from the CHS Foundation last year to address that issue.

The “Our Amazing Farm” video series was the first part of PERC’s propane-focused program on agricultural safety. PERC also plans to release agricultural propane safety games to its PropaneKids.com website; a “Student Discovery Center” of science experiments that relate to propane and agricultural production; and a series of “Propane on the Farm” e-learning modules for adults with funds from the CHS Foundation grant.