Saving a life might mean knowing where you are

I ‘D guess there’s very few of us who haven’t fancied a trip in a helicopter at some stage – either to get a birds- eye view of an event or escape a traffic jam.

However, in the case of accidents where time is especially important – or where they happen off the beaten track – this mode of transport can be a life-saver.

Often a swift response is required to save a life or stop serious complications setting in.

Air ambulances can make a real difference to people living and working in the back of beyond away from any roads.

Having helped paramedics carry someone across a ploughed field a few years ago - regardless of how easy it might look in war movies - I know it’s a fair old job moving anyone in a comfortable manner any distance on a stretcher.

But the speed of arrival of emergency services is influenced very much by the ability to get good directions to the accident scene.

Although it might seem easy to describe where you are to someone when you’re calm and relaxed, it’s sometimes a different matter when you’re stressed by an accident to yourself or a fellow worker.

To help with this, a major initiative has been launched to ensure that people working in the countryside will be better able to guide in help swiftly and accurately.

With five minutes sometimes representing the difference between life and death – or the loss of a limb – farmers are being asked to think ahead and spend that amount of time working out grid reference numbers of local landmarks. Because, despite the sophisticated mapping and GPS systems used by emergency services, any additional information that highlights local landmarks will help crews locate patients as quickly as possible.

I guess one of the difficulties might be working out grid references in the first place.

It’s probably elementary school geography, but like some of the maths we all learned a lot of us will have consigned the skill to the “I’ll not need that again” part of our brain about the same time we burned our school jotters.

However I’m sure you could probably get some willing school pupil to help.

An even easier solution might be one of the many websites that give you these co- ordinates.

Whichever way you choose to work them out though, the important thing is to do it when you’re not in a hurry and make a careful note of the references and keep them someplace you won’t lose them – perhaps written on the back of your mobile phone or something.

Of course making plenty of duplicates would also be useful – and these could be put in tractors, pick-ups, Land Rovers as well – so even people who don’t know the area well could find them in an hour of need.

It’s also worth remembering old fashioned things can help as well – and, especially for ground-based emergency services, the lack of a sign with the name of the farm at the end of the road can be a source of time lost.

A little bit of careful preparation could save time – and a life.