A COLLEGE in Worcestershire is hosting a Safety Health Awareness Day to raise awareness of safety issues among people working in land-based industries in the area.

About 250 people are attending the event at Pershore College today, split between morning and afternoon sessions. It is being run by the Health and Safety Executive's Worcester office and is for those working in areas such as agriculture, forestry, floristry and horticulture.

Rod Davies, estates manager at Pershore College, said that although agriculture was often seen as a dangerous industry, other landbased work could also be fraught with risks.

He said: "Two of the most recent deaths and one of the most recent injuries in this area haven't been anything to with agriculture, they were horticultural and they were both electrocutions. If we can alert people to these things and save people's lives that's good."

There will be five risky scenarios set up at the college and participants will move round between them in groups, seeing the dangers and how to carry out certain work safely. Mr Davies said the scenarios would feature subjects such as moving drainage pipes, working with electric cables, quad bikes, tractor work and sprayer poisoning.

Visitors to this event will also be able to see the campus and find out about courses in areas such as horticulture, gardening, floristry and motor vehicle maintenance.

The college runs one-day and part-time courses in subjects relevant to people who will be attending on the day, including working with specific pieces of machinery such as tractors or forklift trucks, first aid and health and safety in the workplace, food hygiene and pests and pesticides.

Bernie Parry, health and safety awareness officer with the Health and Safety Executive in Worcester, said: "We believe the college location, grounds and outbuildings provide excellent and well appointed facilities for the type of event we are proposing."

She said the aim of the event was to raise awareness of some of the most common causes of serious accidents and ill health in agriculture by providing a series of practical demonstrations, information and simple practical solutions.