For most people, watching mannequins get crushed inside a burned-out tractor and tangled up inside power take-offs is probably not their first choice for a Saturday outing in town.
However, that’s what members of the B.C. Interlakes Cattle Belles did when they got together to learn how to respond when accidents occur, analyze how they can happen and practise tractor safety.
Cattle Belles president Nicki Bonter said first responders to farm accidents are most often farm women so they need to be prepared.
“It made me realize there’s no fooling, you got to be dead serious about safety,” she said.
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“It was an incredibly informative day and it made me think …. We came away with a renewed sense of safety.”
Like other farm women who attended the meeting, Bonter immediately made changes, replacing odd-sized tractor tires and vowing not to take shortcuts or get off the tractor before the p.t.o. is turned off.
The demonstration graphically showed “how fast a p.t.o. can eat somebody up,” she said.
Farm families need accident plans that include a list of neighbours and other contacts to call upon for help in times of crisis.
Bonter cited her husband’s complacency around the equipment he knows so well, saying she fears he might take unnecessary chances. In the past, she found herself following his lead.
The one-day workshop featured a case study that examined a farm accident involving a fictional 58-year-old farmer.
About 25 women pored over worksheets with local firefighters, spotting the errors in the fictional accident scenario.
The farmer in that scenario also thought he knew his way around farm equipment.
One of his first mistakes was using an unfamiliar baler and not taking the time to read the manual regarding load limits on hills.
In the accident, the baler jackknifed while climbing a hill. The farmer was thrown onto a metal scrap yard and pierced before dying from his injuries.
The women and fire-fighters also found other errors: the farmer had forgotten to take a vital communication link, his two way radio; he had procrastinated in cleaning up his metal yard; and he was hungry, thirsty, tired and in a hurry to get home.
Gene Pascuzzo of the Farm and Ranch Safety and Health Association
presented the First on the Scene workshop, giving direction on what to do when an accident occurs on the farm.
He said it is important for first responders to take charge of their emotions, analyze the situation, provide assistance to the victim and then get help.
The most important learning tool was “breathe, 1, 2, 3, it’s up to me,” he said.
Pascuzzo emphasized that farmers should read equipment safety manuals to ensure they know how the machine works and if it is compatible with other machines on the ranch.
Cattle Belles members also did a case study on a tractor rollover, in which they learned the importance of first aid training.
Bonter said people in her group maintain their first aid certification and stressed the value for others, including farm workers, to take part in first responder programs.
