Register now for firefighter-driven agriculture safety training, Dec. 5, near Penn, ND

Photo courtesy: National Farm Medicine Center Safety practices on most farm and ranch operations are voluntary, underscoring the importance of working with trusted community members to help producers identify hazards and take steps to reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities. The National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, is partnering with North Dakota State University Extension to offer the Rural Firefighters Delivering Agriculture Safety and Health (RF-DASH) train-the-trainer program. The RF-DASH program will be offered in person on Dec. 5 at Webster Farms, near Penn, N.D., with the full program beginning at 8 a.m. and concluding at 5 p.m. The event is free; however, registration is required by Nov. 26. Registration is available at ndsu.ag/RFDASH-26 . “In North Dakota, we have a fantastic network of Extension agents, rural firefighters, ambulance squads and county emergency managers,” says Angie Johnson, NDSU Extension farm and ranch safety specialist. “These professionals are community members and trusted sources of information that farmers, ranchers and their families listen to when it comes to addressing hazards regarding health and safety on their farm operation.” RF-DASH training opportunities are open to firefighters, county emergency managers, EMS personnel, law enforcement, safety professionals, Extension agents, technical college instructors, rural insurance agents, farmers, ranchers and other rural community members interested in preventing agricultural injuries and fatalities. RF-DASH enables these trusted community partners to become leaders in farm and ranch safety prevention education and provide outreach opportunities to their local farmers and ranchers. The RF-DASH program was created by the National Farm Medicine Center and the Upper Midwest Agriculture Safety and Health Center, with financial support from the CHS Foundation for in-person training. The curriculum contains five modules with a hands-on component that focuses on injury prevention and emergency preparedness for farms and ranches: Introduction to Agricultural Emergencies Preplanning and Mapping Farms with Farm MAPPER Farm Hazard Analysis with Saferfarm.org Farm First Aid Approaching the Farm Community To learn more about the RF-DASH program, contact Johnson at [email protected] . For more details about the RF-DASH program, including online resources, visit https://rfdash.org/ . Webster Farms is located at 5351 73rd Ave. NE near Penn. It’s been an exciting month for RF-DASH, with trainings conducted in New Troy, Mich., Van Etten, N.Y., and Harrison County, Ky. Meanwhile, Sampson Community College in Clinton, N.C., received news from the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges that its RF-DASH grant has been recommended for funding. The team is also moving forward with curriculum development and working toward official course approval within the North Carolina Community College System. RF-DASH is also offered as an online course . The course is open to anyone at any time, at no cost. Simply create an account. National Farm Medicine Center news release