Leading first aid organisation St John Ambulance is offering on-site training to farms and agriculture-related industries in Wiltshire in a bid to cut the number of deaths and serious injuries in the county.
According to the Health and Safety Executive, agriculture has the highest rate of fatal injuries of all industries in the UK as well one of the highest rates of major injuries*.
Falls from heights and slips and trips were the two main causes of major injuries in agriculture-related industries with handling incidents by far the most common cause of injuries that affected workers for more than three days.
A higher proportion of reported injuries in agriculture were also caused by moving machinery and falling objects, and unsurprisingly, the proportion of injuries caused by animals was more than 11 times greater than other industries.
St John Ambulance has a range of courses that can be delivered on-site to help farmers and other agriculture-related businesses including first aid at work, emergency first aid at work, fire marshal, moving and handling and a new health and safety basics course.
David Blackmore, a Health and Safety Trainer for St John Ambulance’s Commercial Training Division in the South West, said: ‘The statistics for agriculture-related injuries make worrying reading. There is no doubt that having people on farms and in the workplace who are specifically trained in first aid could be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.
‘The minutes after someone is injured by machinery or kicked by an animal for instance could be vital if there was someone on hand to treat a patient while you wait for an ambulance.
‘But recent research has shown that two out of three people wouldn’t know what to do in an emergency so it is important that farms and other workplaces have people trained up to deal with these situations.
‘It is also important that other elements of health and safety are covered to prevent accidents such as moving and handling principles and that people involved in agriculture are aware of the latest developments in that field. Our training can cover all those elements.’
St John Ambulance can offer on-site training on farms and other agricultural site for group of 10 people or more.
David added: ‘We know how hard it is for working industries like farms to free people up to attend courses so we are able to send trainers in to work with them – and ultimately it could benefit employers because staff have a reduced risk of getting injured and taking time off.’
St John Ambulance also has 34 training venues across the South West including Swindon, Chippenham, Devizes, Salisbury and Trowbridge.
For more information on St John Ambulance courses available in your area or to book a course please contact 08700 10 49 50 or visit www.sja.org.uk/training.
