Page 8 - Kids and Bees Resource Booklet_SP_Neat

Safety
Now you’ve brought bee hives to campus, or are getting ready to send your kids out to catch bees, let’s talk about that thing
that I hate talking about. Bees can sting! Keeping your students safe is now priority number one. As of the end of 2017, I’ve
taught 12,563 kids about bees and had two, yes, two sting incidents. One was a kid who rubbed his finger across the feeding
screen on my observation hive over and over (when I had my back turned for a second), pinching and ripping the bees’ feet
and earning a sting in return. The other was from an escaped bee from a shoddy built observation hive that landed in a girl’s
ear, and stung when she smacked it. Ouch!

See what I did there? I just totally made excuses for the bees stinging kids! We do, however, need to be serious about the
honey bees do, in-fact, have a stinger and aren’t afraid to use it. Even though I’m not, I must remind myself constantly that
some people actually are allergic to stings. Most likely one out of every one hundred people can have a systemic
(anaphylactic) reaction to stings. While we can’t control this, we can control our safety measures and precautions, especially
with kids.

Before I was a beekeeper, I was an outdoor adventure guide and a volunteer for the City of Skagway, Alaska’s fire, EMS, and
search and rescue teams. Two models that we used often were “Situational Awareness,” and “Risk Management.” I also had
training on how to handle the most anticipated emergency situations, and physically practiced the protocol ad nauseam. If
you are an educator, who works with the littlest beekeepers and bees, I recommend you think beyond the waiver, and con-
sider the following points.

Situational Awareness: know what is going on around you

 Develop a “Baseline” for what is normal. What do the kids sound like? What do the bees sound like? What are the
smells? How does everything look when it’s put together in a functional and safe fashion? What are the normal sounds
in the neighborhood, farm, park, etc.
 Once you establish this baseline, monitor it. Once kiddos start getting into hives, or even near bees, constantly
be on the lookout for situations breaking your baseline. An unhappy tone of voice, a crash, a bump, (smoker) smoke
smelling stronger than it should. When you are working with kids, you have to have ten pairs of eyes and twenty sets of
ears. Knowing what is and is not normal will help you queue your intuition.
 Avoid “Expert Bias.” You have done this a million times without getting stung: “Oh, it’s fine if they just dump the smok-
er ashes there, I’ve never had a problem.” “My nephew has used that tool dozens of times and never hurt himself.”
“These bees are nice, the kids don’t really need protection.”
 When you bring kids into your apiary, you are totally changing the situation. New energy, new smells, new fears,
new problems. Remember that most of these kids have never been around bees before. You really could be risking
someone’s life, or your property or livelihood by taking the actual risk of bringing kids to your apiary. Don’t discount
this, or ignore the real consequences that are present. Develop a healthy amount of paranoia to keep your kids safe and
your business going.
 Watch out for “Focus Traps.” There always seems to be that one kid that needs your attention more than others, or per-
haps something amazing has happened (finding the queen, seeing a new adult emerge from a cell) and the whole group is
drawn to it.
 It’s great to engage with one specific kid or situation, but always keep your eyes peeled elsewhere at the same
time. When you totally focus on one thing, this is when all heck can break loose. Example 1: Little Timmy slips
off his gloves and grabs the top of the hot smoker. Example 2: Little June steps on a pile of 800 live bees that got knocked
off the frame in your last hive inspection (how sad for the group). Example 3: The one kid who didn’t follow directions
and showed up in shorts saunters directly in front of your most defensive hive. Plan ahead. If you do have one kiddo
who is constantly needing your attention, putting others at risk by drawing your focus from the safety of the group, ask a
parent, faculty member, or a paraprofessional to accompany them to your apiary.

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