By Brad Haire
University of Georgia

A program offered at the University of Georgia’s Tifton, Ga.,
campus teaches emergency workers how to safely handle many farm
emergencies and rescues.

Each year, agricultural work is ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in
injuries and death rates among U.S. occupations, said Glen
Rains, an agricultural engineer with the UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Rains coordinates farm
safety extension classes and programs in Georgia through the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“When I give safety talks, wherever I go there is someone there
who has had or knows someone who has had a leg or fingers taken
off, or worse, in some farming accident,” Rains said.

About 60 emergency medical service and fire fighter personnel
from across the country have taken the FARMEDIC course offered
in Tifton, Rains said. The most recent course took place Nov. 6-
7.

The FARMEDIC program was developed at Cornell University to
train the people who train other emergency medical providers.
The program shows the best ways to approach and resolve
accidents specific to farming. Over the past two decades, the
program has been used to train more than 22,000 firefighters
and EMS providers.

Most farm equipment and machines are designed to rip, tear or
move things with considerable force.

A power take-off, or PTO, is a rotating shaft that transfers
power from the tractor to an attached piece of equipment, such
as a mower. They’re often not covered. And they account for many
farm accidents. They can very quickly grab clothing and spin a
person into it.

Tractors can also roll over on a person who isn’t paying
attention – or onto a person who is. Hands and legs can get
sucked into hay balers. A person can fall into a grain silo.

“The human body is just no match for most farm equipment,” Rains
said.

The FARMEDIC course gives rescuers an idea of what to expect
when they arrive on a farm accident scene, he said. Most
important, they learn how to secure the scene by turning off
machinery that may have been running for hours, avoiding
injury.

According to the USDA, most farming accidents happen to people
between the ages of 10 and 14 and to those over 65, Rains
said. “Most farming accidents are caused by a person’s
inexperience or slow reaction time,” Rains said.

For information about FARMEDIC or other farm safety programs,
contact Glen Rains at (229) 386-3377, or e-mail him at
(grains@tifton.uga.edu).