Nelson Safety Team Leads Worker Safety Course

The appearance of a Life Flight helicopter setting down on a race track can be unnerving at best. However, when it arrived at Nelson Ledges Race Course, Saturday April 9, 2011 it was part of the instruction given to workers who were attending Safety Day. Nelson Ledges Race Course and the Tanner Award-winning Nelson Safety Team conduct this training session each spring. Under the guidance of Neohio Regions Flag Chief Erik Avendutti and Neohio Safety Chief Denny Freeman, the morning began with four break-out sessions covering what to do when a car and/or a driver are in trouble. Instruction ranged from the simulated roll over rescue to the dousing of a fire with the proper extinguisher. Also included was first response training, which involved factors ranging from finding kill switches in cars to making an assessment of the injured driver. Attendees learned and practiced skills needed to become corner workers at race events. The Life Flight Helicopter arrived during lunch break allowing workers to view the inside of the rescue vehicle as well as learn of the services and time constraints it supplies. The afternoon was filled with “from the drivers’ perspective” flag training and simulated incidents at three different corners. Needless to say, when drivers bring their cars to Nelson Ledges to race this year they will be well serviced by experienced and specifically-trained corner workers and safety team members.