MANSFIELD– On March 20 and 21, over 150 local first responders and members of the ag community received specialized manure pit safety and rescue training from Crawford, Marion, Morrow and Richland County Farm Bureaus.
The training is a result of a partnership between Nationwide and the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) to train first responders, farmers and agricultural professionals to help protect against manure pit accidents and entrapments.
On average, 60% of deaths on farms that happen in confined spaces involve the people who tried to rescue someone else — a family member, a co-worker or a rescue worker without the proper equipment.
“It only takes seconds, or a simple mistake, for a loved one in the ag community to find themselves in a dangerous situation when working in a confined space, like a manure pit,” said Brad Liggett, president of Agribusiness at Nationwide.
“Though manure pit injuries are rare, they have a very high fatality rate when they do take place. We thank NECAS for their partnership to help lead the fight against these hazards, keeping ag workers and their families safe.”
The training utilizes a state-of-the-art manure pit safety simulator covers proper rescue procedures for safely entering a manure pit in a low-oxygen situation or with a toxic gas hazard and the importance of air-quality, harnessing, rope rigging, rescue tripods, and using a breathing apparatus during and after rescues.
First Responders from 30 fire departments and the ag community in Crawford, Marion, Morrow and Richland Counties are one of the first to receive the life-saving manure pit safety training session from Nationwide and NECAS.
However, the two parties have teamed up for more than a decade to protect those in the agriculture industry from the life-threatening hazards of grain bin entrapment.
“We are grateful so many fire departments and farmers participated in this training. Its our goal to provide resources to keep our farmers and rescuers safe in these types of situations,” said Abra Dunn, organization director at Ohio Farm Bureau.
Sponsors of the training were Farm Credit Mid-America, Centerra Co-op, Hord Family Farms, Farmer Boy Ag, The First Citizens National Bank, CSI Insurance, Douce Insurance, Gerber Insurance and Hempy Water.
To learn more or view manure pit safety resources, visit Nationwide’s Ag Insight center.
About Nationwide
Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the United States.
Nationwide is rated A+ by Standard & Poor’s. An industry leader in driving customer-focused innovation, Nationwide provides a full range of insurance and financial services products including auto, business, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; excess & surplus, specialty and surety; and pet, motorcycle and boat insurance.
For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.