5 days ago
Cork first responders increase awareness of workplace safety
A group of voluntary first responders is spending the week running between towns and villages in west Cork, delivering talks and presentations on workplace safety in order to increase awareness about the risks of farm accidents.
West Cork Rapid Response members have been providing critical emergency medical care at accident scenes in some of the most isolated parts of the country since it was established 17 years ago.
It has 36 trained emergency care volunteers and, because they live in different communities in west Cork, they often arrive at accident scenes and begin treating casualties before ambulance personnel can get there.
That makes a critical difference and, every year, West Cork Rapid Response volunteers are credited with saving the lives of around 25 people in west Cork.
The talks and presentations are a novel way of educating as many as possible about the risks of farm accidents.
Electrician and vintage car enthusiast Densie O'Shea, from Drimoleague, knows all about those risks now.
Thirteen years ago, he fell from the bucket of a loadall while fitting a light to a farm shed.
He fractured his femur, his hip and his wrist. He also ruptured his bowel and fractured his pelvis in six places. Today, he preaches about safety on the farm too.
"I have seen people doing similar acts to what I did," Mr O'Shea said.
"I was in a bucket [of the loadall] with no safety gear on and I have seen people doing it since. It shocks me to see them at it. It absolutely shocks me. They don't realise that one split second and the whole lot is over."
Billy Barry, is farmer from Toormore near Schull.
Two years ago, he was attacked by a cow that had just calved.
He suffered 10 fractured ribs and fractured his pelvis, shoulder and collar bone.
He ruptured his spleen and punctured his lung.
Mr Barry is also a farm safety advocate and his message is a simple one.
"You can't be careful enough - you can never be careful enough," he said.
Dr Jason van der Velde, a consultant in emergency medicine, saved the lives of Mr Barry and Mr O'Shea.
He's one of the West Cork Rapid Response volunteers trail running around West Cork this week, spreading the farm safety message on this week's Beara Way Challenge run.
"Farming still remains the most dangerous occupation in Ireland," he said.
"Over 55% of all workplace-related incidents are farming related. It is absolutely imperative that we get on top of an epidemic of trauma on farms."
The Beara Way Challenge has been running over seven days.
