SIDNEY, Ohio — Trauma, electrocution, pipeline safety, manure pits. They’re just a few of the many topics that will be covered at the Farm Accident Rescue Management School on March 25 at the Ted Winner Farm in Sidney, Ohio.

This one-day school is designed to be comprehensive, yet convenient for volunteers and others who might be engaged with a farm rescue situations. Extensive hands-on experiences, with rescue equipment in unique farm accident situations, are planned to supplement classroom training. It is designed to be informative for family members, employees and those who respond to 911 calls.

The day-long training session will be held at this 200 cow dairy operation at 8645 Mason Road. The cow dairy operation’s attributes will contribute to learning opportunities around modern farm machinery, including tractors, a combine with both grain and corn heads, skid steer loader, hay/straw balers, additional power take off (PTO) powered equipment, augers, tower and bunker silos, under building concrete manure storage and in-ground containment structures, air bags, anhydrous ammonia, grain bins and livestock safety.

“In the past 10 years, Ohio has experienced 19 fatalities from grain engulfments,” said Dee Jepsen, safety leader for Ohio State University extension. “There is a continual need for rural medics and fire departments to understand the complexity of an agricultural incident. They are dealing with equipment and environmental conditions they normally wouldn’t see in a rescue situation. Knowing how to shut off the equipment or isolate an entrapped victim is important to preventing further injury or even death.”

At the Farm Accident Rescue Management School in Sidney next week a dummy will be used during a grain demonstration. But at the Farm Science Review last fall Jepsen learned first hand the dangers of grain suffocation when she was lowered into an open bin of corn.

“It feels like quick sand as I was shifting and moving down into the grain,” said Jepson, who was lowered up to her waist. “As the grain got around me I felt a lot of restriction. I know I only got up to my waist, but had we gotten up higher I don’t know if my diaphragm would have been able to open and close. When I came out my heart rate had changed because my blood pressure had been restricted so long. And I was only in there 20 minutes.”

Jepsen said farm safety should be a top priority in every farming operation despite how menial the task, how easy the task seems or how often it has been done a certain way.

“In the summer, we are unloading grain, harvesting wheat, baling straw and planting. We have every type of farming activity happening simultaneously, and it involves multiple generations,” Jepsen said. “It’s important that education, training and proper procedures are in place before anyone handles any kind of equipment or participates in any farming activity.”

When it comes to agricultural-related fatalities in Ohio, grain bin hazards are rare. Between 1995 and 2004, only 11 grain bin- and grain wagon-related fatalities were recorded in Ohio. Deaths involving tractors topped the list, at 134.

Ohio averages about 26 farming fatalities a year, with most occurring in July and August. About half of all deaths involve young children, teenagers and senior citizens.

“It’s important that young people and the older population be a part of the family farming experience, but we sometimes give them jobs that may not always be the safest,” Jepsen said.

Everyone who attends should plan to receive hands-on training that requires full PPE (Personal Protection Equipment). Continuing education units (CEUs) for EMS and firefighters will be provided. In addition a 78-page Farm Rescue publication will be given to each responder that day.

The Farm Accident Rescue Management School runs from 7:30