| | When working on a farm, knowing what to do if you came across a co-worker or family member in an emergency situation, perhaps pinned by a baler or stuck in a combine, could mean the difference between an injury and fatality.
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"It's a horrible thought, but in a careless moment, things can happen," says Kenda Lubeck, farm safety coordinator with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. "Often an injury victim is discovered by a family member and it is vital that the uninjured person on the scene remains calm and knows how to start rescue procedures."
Rescuers from fire departments across Alberta had the chance to learn rescue techniques this summer at two separate Farm Extrication Clinics hosted by the Barons Fire Department in Southern Alberta. Seven instructors came up from the Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squads, Montana State University and East Jefferson Fire Rescue, Washington, to teach the courses.
"Each two-day clinic included a half-day of lecture and then participants were sent out into a field of retired farm machinery," says Lubeck. "They were guided through hands-on experience rescuing "dummies" from various heavy equipment including combines, balers, swathers and tractors."
While the clinic was designed to teach rescuers and fire fighters with access to tools such as the Jaws of Life and a trained crew of people, there were key messages that could certainly help farmers in a time of need.
"The first and foremost piece of advice for any farm work team is that someone, or ideally everyone, on the team has first aid training," says Lubeck. "It really may be the difference between the life and death of a victim."
For the first person on the scene of an emergency, these are the steps recommended by the training crew to rescue the victim:
Step one: Call for help. If the victim is entangled, pinned or crushed by equipment call the fire department or rescue squad and an ambulance. Do not call family members first if you can help it.
Step two: Ensure all rescuers are safe and not in any danger.
Step three: Assess the situation. What equipment is involved? Are there chemicals? Could further damage or injury occur? Perform a 360-degree walk-around to completely assess the situation.
Step four: Secure the site. Stabilize all equipment and machinery. This includes cribbing to keep the equipment from shifting and causing more harm or greater injury. Cribbing is using blocks of wood or similar material to cradle and secure any piece of equipment.
Step five: If possible, without causing additional injury, quickly and carefully extricate the victim in the safest manner possible. This most likely will require a team of rescuers, depending on the situation.
  
Of course the most important message is to avoid accidents at all costs.
- Do not wear loose clothing. Watch for dangling threads, hair and strings - anything that can get caught up in equipment and create an injury.
- Always disengage equipment, shut off the power/motor and apply the brake before exiting the tractor or adjusting any equipment. This is one of those "at-all-costs" things.
- Look after yourself and your team. Get enough sleep. Drink enough water. Eat proper meals and take regular breaks. This keeps the mind and body working properly to make the decisions and exert the energy.
- Get the proper training on unfamiliar equipment for yourself, family members or coworkers. If you know how it works, you know the dangers that can come with it.
"Throughout the extrication clinic, the training crew emphasized keeping the big picture in mind. 'Do not get tunnel vision,' was the key concern for rescuers," says Lubeck. "Continually evaluate how the rescue is going taking everything into consideration. Not doing so could easily create more harm or even more victims."
Contact:
Kenda Lubeck
780-538-5606
kenda.lubeck@gov.ab.ca |
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