Health & Safety when growing food - potential hazards?

[Samuel1988]

Evening all,

I am working on a pilot project round my cousins house where I will be growing food (payment in the form of half the produce in exchange for some growing space) as well as using this opportunity to inspire my lil (year 8) 2nd cousin into wildlife. One of the aspects of the project will be to get my lil cousin involved (with supervision from her mum) in the care of the vegetable plants (as I will not be there for most days of the week).

Before I start, I wish to highlight any potential health and safety issues and then produce a leaflet I can print and give out to prevent any potential upsets.

I know of a few obvious potential hazards (such as those found in soil, sharp objects, hazardous parts of plants e.g. rhubarb leaves) but I was wondering if anyone could point me to a good website/document/give me some advice on potential hazards out there. Also, I do know some parts of some plants like Rhubarb could be potentially dangerous - are there any other vegetable plants which could be potentially harmful?

Thank you for your time and health,

Samuel

[Two_Sheds]

I wish to ... produce a leaflet I can print and give out

Give out to whom? I'd be very wary of doing that, you may be making yourself liable for any problems that occur, any accidents that happen.

I'd rather use somebody else's existing leaflet: here's the RHS one for kids http://apps.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardeni...oster1_164.pdf

are there any other vegetable plants which could be potentially harmful?

Yes, lots. Anything is harmful if you're allergic to it: strawberries, parsnips etc can trigger nasty symptoms.
Runner & French beans are potentially harmful if eaten raw or undercooked.

Daffodil bulbs are poisonous, and look very much like onions to the uninitiated.

I highly recommend this book: get it from the library if you don't want to buy (but if you get it from am@zon, you can always resell it when you're done)

Poisonous Plants: A Guide for Parents & Childcare Providers: Amazon.co.uk: Elizabeth A. Dauncey: Books

It's superb, it's my bible at school, where I run the Garden Club. It's very thorough: not only does it tell you what is harmful and why, it gives average statistics, which help you manage risk. Eg, foxgloves are a famous poison, but it's actually the leaves that cause most poisoning, and to adults not children: apparently some adults have eaten them as salad !

[veggiechicken]

If your 8 year old cousin is the only child who will have access to your garden, shouldn't her mother be teaching her what to be aware of? Just don't eat anything unless you've been told you can and wash your hands after handling things. Sometimes the only way to learn that a thorn is prickly is by touching it

[Aberdeenplotter]

The juice of the celery plant as with parsnips both being related to giant hogweed can cause really nasty painful blisters if it contacts with skin.

[veggiechicken]

.......and nettles..........

[Aberdeenplotter]

oh and thistles

[gingerbilly]

So it's a Risk Assessment, Method Statement, COSHH statement (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) and COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) before there is a spade in your plot....coming soon!!!!

I've just had 32 years of that in an Oil Refinery..........safest place in the world believe it or not including air borne emissions ......and then they closed it down because of...... AGE.

[alldigging]

Are they up to date with tetanus injection?

I was told to mention it to anyone who brings kids on to the site that they need to be, if you have muck on the site.

[Aberdeenplotter]

oh and watch out for vermin. Faulty towers on telly at the moment, it's the one with the rat

[Leif]

Yes, rats can kill.

As mentioned, Giant Hogweed is very nasty. And spurge sap can be extremely nasty too. As you say, Rhubarb leaves are poisonous.

I was gardening for my late mother when a woody stem went into my eye. It was sore, but recovered. A year later after getting glasses, I was astounded to find I had astigmatism in that eye, which I had never had before. So the optician examined my eye and found wood splinters in the cornea, which were removed at the hospital and most of the astigmatism disappeared.

And if you prune your partner's plant incorrectly, that can lead to serious injury.

Ponds can kill children. Splinters can lead to infections, I think an ancestor died of a splinter in his hand. Pen knives are nasty things, I nearly severed a finger tip after one collapsed on me. I ended up walking through a wood with a hand covered in bright red blood, and dripping blood, it was very dramatic. We only use pen knives due to legal restrictions on knives, but in my opinion pen knives are dangerous because they can collapse and sever a finger. I now hate using them.

Power tools can be dangerous. Cables are trip hazards. Mains electricity is dangerous.

Dog and cat poo on the lawn is a hazard. Look up toxocara.

A small number of lawn fungi such as Clitocybe dealbata are deadly.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Well, the grapes have highlighted the many dangers of gardening. In fact, if I had read this before I started, I might have been scared off as it is so hazardous!

Yes, there are things to be wary of, but goodness me, should not common sense take care of this? Maybe I have the wrong end of the stick but it looks to me as if you are in a private garden, and would like to encourage the small relative to join in - production of a leaflet of woes and 'DON'Ts' would put her mum off letting her participate and learn all that is wonderful about GYO?

[Two_Sheds]

an Oil Refinery.. they closed it down because of...... AGE.

Not age. Money.

rats can kill.

Not quite: it's leptospirosis that kills, not the rat

Dog and cat poo on the lawn is a hazard. Look up toxocara.

Quite true.
Horse manure can spread infections to man too, but who wears full hazard kit to spread their hossmuck?

I compost dog poo, but I don't use FYM. I'm still alive, I think. It's all a case of being aware of potential hazards, considering how to reduce danger and acting sensibly.
We used to call it common sense, which I think has now been outlawed under Health & Safety legislation

[Jardiniere]

Its Health and Safety at WORK legislation - to stop employers killing off their employees...all the rest is common sense and intelligence.
I used to work in H&S. Have spent the last 6 years trying to forget everything I learned...life is too short.

[bearded bloke]

We used to call it common sense

Modern terminology is Risk Assessment