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County Impact Statements - Columbia County
Emergency Response Teams Better Prepared For Handling Farm Accidents
Agriculture is one of the most hazardous industries in the United States.
From 1997 through 2000, 99 agriculture related fatalities occurred in the state
of Arkansas. For every fatality, there were approximately 100 disabling
accidents. Tractors and machinery account for half of farm fatalities. Emergency
rescue personnel need to be familiar with farm equipment and scene risk factors
unique to farming. An example of this is the fact that rescue tools such as the
jaws of life aren’t able to cut through the thicker metals used for tractors and
other farm equipment.
Columbia County Ambulance Service approached Extension about the possibility
of a farm rescue training session. The course was planned with input of the
ambulance service, volunteer fire departments, and the Columbia County Farm
Bureau.
The training consisted of both classroom instruction and hands-on field
exercises. Three hours of classroom instruction dealt with the unique nature of
farm accidents and what rescue personnel would need to be prepared for when they
arrive on the scene. The field exercise allowed the rescue personnel to practice
extricating a dummy pinned beneath an overturned tractor.
Several of the participants remarked that the process of getting the victim
out from beneath the tractor was much more difficult than it would first appear.
Many were anxious for additional training sessions in the future.
Rescue personnel practice farm rescue with dummies and actual
tractors
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Impacts
- 25 Emergency Services personnel attended the training session
- 10 Volunteers received 5 hours of continuing education credit for EMT’s
- 1 Volunteer received continuing education credit for law enforcement
personnel
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