Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Farm safety warning as number of fatal accidents almost doubles in a year

The latest HSE figures reveal 41 people were killed on farms in Great Britain last year.
The latest HSE figures reveal 41 people were killed on farms in Great Britain last year.

Farmers and crofters are being reminded of the dangers posed by their jobs as figures reveal the number of people killed on British farms almost doubled last year.

The reminder coincides with Farm Safety Week – run by farm safety charity the Farm Safety Foundation on July 19-23 – and new figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The figures reveal fatal injuries on farms in Great Britain have almost doubled in the past year from 21 fatalities in 2019/20, to 41 in 2020/21. The deaths included 34 farm workers and seven members of the public.

Five of the deaths were in Scotland and three involved quad bike accidents, one was caused by a farm worker being attacked and killed by a bull, and one was caused by a worker catching fire while carrying out muirburn activities.

The majority of the deaths across Great Britain – 13 – were caused by someone being struck by a moving vehicle, including tractors, telescopic handlers and all-terrain vehicles.

Incidents involving animals accounted for 11 deaths, while six people were killed by contact with machinery, and four died as a result of being struck by an object.

The majority of deaths on British farms were caused by someone being struck by moving machinery.

Other causes of fatal accidents included falls from height, being trapped by something collapsing, asphyxiation by slurry fumes, fire, and a quad bike accident.

“Agriculture is a vital part of our economy and everyone involved is rightly proud of the quality and standard of the food produced,” said HSE acting head of agriculture, Adrian Hodkinson.

“However, this appears to come at a significant cost to many farmers and workers in terms of serious injury, lifelong ill health and in some cases death.”

Prevention

He said the causes of farm incidents were well-known and the things to stop them were usually straightforward – putting on handbrakes, fastening lap belts in cabs, getting ATV training and helmets, putting cows and calves in fields without footpaths, stopping things before trying to fix or unblock them and so on.

“When we investigate life-changing farm workplace incidents we find, time and time again, that risks are not being removed or managed,” added Mr Hodkinson.

“It is far too common for people to accept risk is an inevitable part of the job – this isn’t the case. The guidance is easily available to manage the risks and prevent injury.”

He advised farmers to think a job through and put the right measures in place to make it safer.

“It is not acceptable that agriculture continues to fail to manage risk in the workplace,” added Mr Hodkinson.

“We need everyone to play their part to change their own behaviours, do things the right way and ‘call out’ poor practices whenever they are seen.”

More information about Farm Safety Week is available online at yellowwellies.org