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washing is crucial for their safety and for your peace of mind. Some farms require children to wash their hands after feeding animals, before lunch and as the last activity before leaving the farm.

Signs showing proper hand washing are available from Alberta Health Services or online (go to http:// www.health.alberta.ca/health-info/ infuenza.html). Scroll down the page and under Infuenza Poster choose Hand Washing Sign – Do Bugs Need

Drugs.) Post this sign in several locations on the farm including by every wash station. Discuss the importance of proper hand washing on the tour as you pass by wash stations. Ensure children wash their hands if you have activities that may expose them to potential health hazards.

Your general farm policy does provide liability coverage but it may not be suffcient for when you offer school tours. Insurance companies assume that your farm traffc is primarily farm supply companies and may become uncomfortable taking on the liability exposure when you start school tours.

Occasionally, farms are asked to fnd insurance coverage with another company but most insurance companies often just add to your policy and adjust your insurance premium to refect their increased exposure.

It is important that you discuss what you are doing in detail with your insurance company. Better yet, bring your agent to the farm to see what you are doing. Take pictures and send them to your agent whether he comes out or not.

What you don’t want to happen is for the insurance company to say, “I didn’t know you were doing that! Your policy doesn’t cover this kind of on-farm activity.” This is not to suggest you will not be covered if you have a claim because you most likely will be, as long as you can show that the insurance broker knew what you were doing. As your business grows, smaller insurance companies may choose to drop farms that expose them to higher liability risk.

There are many factors that can affect the size of the premium:

• Do you have wagon rides? • Is the wagon pulled by a tractor or horses? (Horses may get spooked when people are on the wagon) • Do you have animals on the farm? • Can children touch the animals? (E-coli risk)

• Are you providing food to the children? (Food-borne illness risk) • What is your projected gross income from school tours? • What activities do you offer?

For budget purposes, use one per cent of gross income from school tours as your insurance premium. Some insurance companies may not charge you a premium at all if school tours are a small part of the farm business. But it is important to talk to your insurance agent so they know what you are doing.