This program will include a series of 2.5-day long workshops that cover the following topics.
Workshop 1: Animal welfare and handling from farm through transport
Workshop 2: Livestock receiving and lairage
Workshop 3: Effective and humane restraint and stunning
Workshop 4: Stunning equipment operation and maintenance
Workshop 5: Building a robust Systematic Approach to Animal Welfare
Trainees have the option of selecting the workshops that fit their needs or completing the entire series of workshops and an additional project for comprehensive certification. Trainees that complete the series and project will receive a certificate in humane handling and stunning and the limited rights to utilize the program logo in marketing and promotional materials.
Tuition reimbursement will be offered for 120 trainees from small and very small slaughter establishment to enroll in Workshops 3 and 5, which will address critical regulatory challenges for plants of that size category. A maximum of two employees per establishment will be granted tuition reimbursement, but any current or aspiring staff may enroll in any of the five workshops.
One-day-long refresher training workshops will be developed to accompany each of the five workshops listed above.