Regional statistics are ‘alarming’

ALARMING statistics over deaths and serious injuries have seen farm workers in Sidmouth and Ottery urged to brush up on their first-aid skills.

Government statistics revealed agriculture still has the highest rate of injuries out of all industries and 20per cent of all work-related fatalities a year.

St John Ambulance says first-aid administered in the minutes after an injury is sustained could be vital, especially in an industry that involves animals and machinery in remote locations.

There were 211 injuries in the agriculture industry in the South West last year.

Forty nine of those were in Devon, with four fatalities in the county.

David Blackmore, a first-aid and health and safety trainer for St John Ambulance, said: ‘The statistics make for some worrying reading. The industry seriously needs to readdress its attitude to health and safety.

‘There is no doubt that, having people on farms and in the workplace who are trained in first-aid could be the difference between a life lost and a life saved. The minutes after someone is injured by machinery or kicked by an animal could be vital.

For information on St John Ambulance courses available contact 0844 3245535 or visit www.sja.org.uk/training.