Farm Safety Week Hopes To Reduce Farm Fatalities

Annual Farm Safety Week Celebrated

The first week in July marked Farm Safety Week, raising awareness of health and safety issues in the agricultural industry.

The first week of July marked Farm Safety Week. Part of the ‘Yellow Wellies’ farm safety initiative, this annual week of safety awareness was launched at a livestock event hosted by the National Farmers Union. The tag line of this year’s event was ‘Who will fill your boots?’

Farm Safety Week is designed to address the agricultural sector’s relatively poor health and safety record. Farming remains the most dangerous industry in Britain. During the period 2013 – 2014, a total of 31 people were killed on farms. The previous year this figure was 36. Fatalities have typically been caused by incidents involving cattle, workplace transport, machinery and work on roofs.

Five Simple Messages

In an attempt to bring down this fatality rate, the Farm Safety Week campaign has encouraged farmers to take on board 5 simple daily messages – one for each day of the week. These are as follows:

• On Monday:  “Overhaul your overalls” – wear the right safety gear with a secure chest pocket for your phone
• On Tuesday: “Ditch a duff shaft” – make sure your PTO shafts are safely covered
• On Wednesday: “Act on accident statistics” –  The latest annual report on the causes of farm accidents was released  by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) this week
• On Thursday: “Don’t step on my toes” – protect yourself from livestock injuries
• On Friday: “Lose a lousy ladder” – make sure your ladder is safe to climb

Research suggests that observing these five precautions could prevent as many as seven deaths a year. Guy Smith, National Farmers Union Vice-President and Chairman of the Farm Safety Partnership, said: “This harvest, have a look at the recommendations in the Safe Stop campaign and observe them.  It might add a few minutes to your working day, but if it saves seven lives a year, it’s a price worth paying.”

Child Safety

Smith also pointed out the importance of observing child safety on farms. He advised that farmers should consider introducing strictly child-free zones on their holdings: “Farmers need to think if they were running a factory they would not have children running around. They need to think about the risks and zone them accordingly.” Slurries were highlighted as a particularly hazardous area for children – Smith advised that interested parties download the free leaflet about slurry safety available on the NFU website. This contains much practical advice.

Raising Awareness

Other ways in which this year’s Farm Safety Week raised awareness included a special Twitter chat using the hashtag #AgriChat. Though this event has finished, the tweets can still be accessed by searching for the hashtag on Twitter. A special farm safety game was also available for download as an app. Called #KeepCliveAlive, this was designed as a fun way to raise awareness of health and safety precautions.

Another way in which you can improve the safety of your holding is ensuring that you have adequate farming warning signs on display. A comprehensive range of these are available online in a wide range of sizes.