The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is gearing up for farm inspections this autumn as part of ongoing efforts to improve agriculture’s poor safety record.
Initial figures from the HSE show there were 22 work-related farm deaths between April 2021 and March 2022. Only the construction industry had more fatal injuries in the past year.
HSE will publish its full Fatal Injuries in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing in GB report on Monday 18 July, which is the start of #FarmSafetyWeek.
See also: Farmers Weekly campaign: Dying to feed you
The autumn inspections will focus on the main causes of fatal accidents, namely livestock, contact with machinery, falling from height, being struck by a moving vehicle and being struck by a moving object.
Inspections will start in October 2022 and cover North Wales, East Anglia, the North East, the south coast and the West Midlands.
Safety training
The NFU has been working with land-based training organisation Lantra to create a new online learning course for farmers, developed with advice from the HSE.
NFU vice-president David Exwood said: “It offers reminders about the risks we all face on farm, including working at height or with cattle, and provides practical safety advice, including remembering to engage the brake when using a farm vehicle and wearing a helmet when riding on an ATV.
“We are about to embark on the busiest time of year in farming – harvest – and we must remember farm safety best practice.”
The HSE is offering a limited number of free Lantra training places to farmers in the areas where they will be carrying out inspections.
Farmers in the areas selected for inspection will be invited by letter from the beginning of July to take the training.
Early booking is recommended if you are contacted and offered access to the training course, the NFU said.
Repeat visits
In 2021, the HSE inspected farms in Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and South Wales.
Follow-up visits will be made later this year to a sample of the farms visited in 2021 to determine whether there has been a sustained safety improvement.
