Lafarge holds children’s art competition on theme of safety

Lafarge Mahaweli Cement organised a children’s art competition on safety at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.

Children of agents and distributors of Lafarge participated in this event. The main drive of this initiative was to emphasise the importance of safety through educating and informing children of these families, with the aim of them passing on the safety message to their parents and extended family, which would lead them to take extra precautions and to avoid hazardous situations while carrying out their day to day activities.

Many of the senior staff members of Lafarge attended the competition and the opening speech, given by Anurag Kak, Managing Director of Lafarge, highlighted the importance of upholding a safe family unit.

The children and their parents were given an introduction by Subash Rathnaweera, Health and Safety Officer of Lafarge, on a number of hazard areas that children can get into and should be mindful of. Avoiding dangers when handling electricity without parental supervision, playground safety, water safety and travelling on the road were the main topics he discussed.

S. Rathnaweera also took the opportunity to underline the decision taken by the Department of Education to approve an ergonomic school bag. This bag aids children to develop a healthy back posture and provides the required spine support when carrying heavy text books.

Children, who came from all parts of the Island, were very enthusiastic in depicting pictures, which displayed various hazards prevalent as well as how they should be avoided.

An employee of a Lafarge distributor, Vasanthi Liyanagunasekara, and her 13-year-old daughter, Amali Tharangani, travelled from Hatton to take part in this event. “This event was a creative way of educating children on how to be safe from a young age and to avoid getting into dangerous accidents, which is helpful for both child and parent,” commented Liyanagunasekara.

A separate judging panel was invited to grace the event and the children were broken up into four separate age categories. The pictures that best portrayed the Safety topic and met their judging criteria were awarded the winners of the competition.

Rathnaweera added: “Working on the children’s art competition was a rewarding and moving experience. I was highly impressed by the quality of the children’s artwork”. He also stated that he was especially touched by the children’s understanding of the different points explained to them through the safety presentation.  The art competition was held in line with Lafarge’s global objective to prevent accidents through awareness and safe behaviour.