Farming leaders have issued a renewed plea to the industry to make safety a priority.
The Farm Safety Partnership Scotland (FSPS) acknowledges many farmers think they are “teaching them how to suck eggs”, yet agriculture continues to be the most dangerous occupation in the country, with five deaths in Scotland and 33 across Great Britain last year.
The deaths in Scotland included a 49-year-old farm worker who was crushed beneath a tractor trailer as he carried out repairs.
When the trailer collapsed and fell on to him he died from crush injuries. More recently a father of three died after becoming trapped in a baler.
FSPS chairman Scott Walker called on farmers to make a “conscious decision” about their safety.
“There are standard measures we would encourage anyone to make when carrying out maintenance with machines, principally the ‘safe stop’ procedure.
“In addition to this, you should ensure workers are properly trained, safe working practices are devised and executed and all movement has stopped before removing any guards,” he said.
“There is a host of advice for safe working practices available on the Health and Safety Executive’s website, and I would ask everyone to take five minutes to read this guidance as it may stop and make you think about what you’re doing and help to prevent injury or death.”
Farm contractor Robert Hamilton from Strathaven described how he lost his hand while doing maintenance on a rear discharge spreader on a Terragator, despite having done the same work since his early teens.
He said: “I noticed a grease pipe on auto lube was leaking. I wiped grease off the pipe next to the floor slat.
“About 10 minutes later I did exactly the same thing again.
“However, this time my hand got trapped in the floor slat and the front roller.
“I knew the only way I could survive this was for my hand to come off between the forearm and wrist.
“It felt like slow motion.”
Mr Hamilton describes himself as “lucky” as the accident could have been worse, and says he and his employees are now more aware of health and
safety.
nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk
