BARK RIVER -- A mandatory safety and health training session for people working in the mining industry was recently held in Bark River.

It was led by Philip Eggerding, a senior staff instructor for the Mine Safety Program at Michigan Tech.
    
The participants are heavy equipment operators.  During the advanced first aid course, they learned to spot workplace hazards.  Eggerding said people have a tendency to get hurt with all the service trucks and heavy equipment at the sites.  The group also learned about basic first aid.

"Those are the important things.  It's the bleeding control, and then when we get into the CPR, it's the cardiac arrest, because you have to do something about that.  Having been a former EMT, I know. Having gone to scenes where nobody had done anything before we got there, the chances of survival are practically zero," said Eggerding.

The participants are required to get eight hours of refresher safety training each year.