The Wales Farm Safety Partnership (WFSP) is collaborating with Wales YFC and game design company Jengyd to produce a new "Escape Room in a Box" game, designed as a more engaging, impactful, and interactive method of farm safety training for children. As part of the collaboration, the game will be made available to all Young Farmers' Club counties in Wales.
The game is designed to challenge club members to solve safety related puzzles, allowing the younger generation to better connect with the material than traditional instruction methods like lectures. The game uses the principle of "gamification", or applying game design elements to non-game concepts, to encourage players towards teamwork and critical thinking about common farm hazards.
The launch of the game is arriving along with sobering numbers about agricultural sector safety. According to the Health and Safety Executive, 17 people were killed in Great Britain in 2023-2024. Additionally, the industry has a fatal injury rate approximately 21 times higher than the average of all industries. The most common causes of fatal injury are moving vehicles, cattle, and falls.The game aims to highlight these risks to the younger generations. Teams must solve puzzles that reinforce the best practices and regulatory safety requirements.Meleri Jones, Wales Farm Safety Partnership (WFSP) Coordinator, emphasized the importance of the program. "This collaboration with Wales YFC and Jengyd allows us to deliver vital safety messages in a way that is interactive and memorable," Jones explained. "If this game helps one young farmer think twice before taking a risk, it will have been a success."