Livestock transportation emergencies require a team effort, says Director of Emergency Response

By Bruce Cochrane, Farmscape

The Director of Saskatchewan Agriculture's Emergency Response and Inspection Unit says the main focus when dealing with a livestock transportation emergency is safety.

"Livestock Transportation Emergencies Require a Team Effort," is the topic of this week’s Sask Pork's Spring Seminar Series slated for Thursday, May 5 at 1:30pm.

Trent Catley, the Director of the Emergency Response and Inspection Unit, Livestock Branch for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, explains such an emergency will typically be reported through 911.

“Almost all fire departments in Saskatchewan are dispatched by the same 911 centre so the first responders are going to be a fire department. They're there to secure the scene if it's a motor vehicle collision, rollover, fire, that sort of thing. They're there to secure the scene, stabilize the incident and to prevent the emergency from continuing. That's when their knowledge or skill set for the most part will finish. They'll still be there to support the scene but dealing with the animals is not something they deal with or are even equipped to deal with. That's where they're going to have to call in other subject matter experts and that’s where the producers or the different associations can step up and come to the site to help support the fire department for responding and dealing with those animals that are involved in the response,” explained Trent Catley, Director of Emergency Response and Inspection Unit, Livestock Branch for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.

“When you have all of these different parties working together, and it can be on a major highway like the Trans-Canada highway so you have a lot of other traffic going by, you need to make sure the response is coordinated so that everyone on scene can be safe,” added Catley, who has over 30 years experience in enforcement and emergency response, including 18 years in the fire service where he developed delivered a livestock handling course for the Saskatchewan Volunteer Fire Fighter Association. “Police are going to be on scene dealing with traffic. If there's a serious incident you might have EMS on scene to deal with injuries to the people in the accident. It all needs to be coordinated so you can have an effective safe response.”

 Catley says, because livestock transportation emergencies are so rare, numbering four or five per year, preparation beforehand is key.

Thursday’s webinar is designed to help producers, drivers, emergency responders, and animal health specialists confidently prepare and respond to livestock transportation emergencies in an organized and safe manner, all while reducing time on scene. Register here.

For more visit farmscape.ca.