Northern Ireland farming families are to be offered life-saving first aid training online in a bid to reduce the number of deaths on farms.

Farm Family Key Skills (FFKS) training is free to farm families. Those participating will also receive a free first aid kit and reference booklet.

The First Aid Awareness course is delivered by Global Horizon Skills Ltd. on behalf of the College of Agriculture Food & Rural Enterprise (CAFRE).

Over 2,300 farm family members previously attended the face-to-face training, but Covid-19 has led to a rethink on how to deliver the course.

Life-saving skills

As a result, the newly designed first aid awareness training is delivered online using Zoom. This offers a very effective and convenient alternative to face to face delivery, allowing family members to attend together from home.

Feedback on a pilot session from one participant read: “This is such a valuable course for farmers. This information is life-saving and being able to avail of this course via Zoom is forward thinking in view of a lot of farmers being isolated because of Covid.

All you need is a screen and the interactive videos were so easy to follow, anyone could use this technology and that is what it is all about – easy to access and the imparting of life saving skills.

Another added: “I found the course was excellent for me. I was particularly interested in the information on slurry mixing, as I know that working with slurry is an extremely dangerous activity.

“I enjoyed the videos and liked the interactive part and was very pleased with my results.”

The next available course dates are as follows:

  • Monday, January 25, 2021, from 7:00pm;
  • Wednesday 3 February 2021 from 7:00pm.

Pre-booking a place is necessary, so that you can receive joining instructions in advance of the webinar. Further information is available on the CAFRE website.