Fifth grade is the perfect age to teach children about safety, according to Gerry Book, the event coordinator of the Altona Progressive Agriculture Safety Day.

Around 160 students and 40 volunteers gathered at the Millenium Exhibition Centre in Altona on Friday to participate in a full day of learning and interacting with 11 safety topics. Although the event emphasizes agriculture safety, the lessons learned stretch far beyond those located just on the farm, and range from the Internet, to firearms, to drugs, and to pets.

"Originally, I think the design was for agricultural safety but it's pretty easy to see that lots of kids don't come from the ag or farm side of it, but most of these kids can take any of these presentations we're showing and apply them to their day-to-day life," Book said.

In 2017 alone, 102,000 kids participated in 380 Safety Days that took place across North America, according to Book.

"They're young enough that they're very interested, they're kind of keen on what the presenters are showing them, and they're old enough to retain a lot of it and actually go home and pass the messages on at home. We think that's the ideal age to get these messages out there," Book said. "If we can prevent any kind of accident with any of these kids or their families it's totally worth it."

Joseph Houle from Bunge was one of the presenters and stressed the risks associated with grain.

"Growing up I used to play on grain, on either the truck or the grain bin without noticing what the potential hazards are and what could happen," Houle said. "It's a danger out there but I think people are really not aware."

By speaking at the event, Houle said he hopes he can convey how quickly the dangers of grain can escalate and what to do in case of an emergency.

"That would be a big bonus," Houle said.