The rolling countryside of the UK with its patchwork of fields and crops, hedgerows and stonewalls mask the fact that the agricultural sector has the highest rate of fatalities in industry across the UK.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) reported that in 2014/15 there were 33 fatalities on British farms, up two on the previous year.  Fatal injuries within the industry have not fallen to the same extent that they have in construction and manufacturing which historically had the highest number of fatalities before the introduction of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974

Disproportionate danger

Health & safety systems in Britain are some of the best in the world but despite this UK agriculture continues to record the highest number of fatalities per 100,000 workers in UK industry every year, making it the most dangerous profession to work in.  UK farms are regularly reported to have grown in size, yet the average farm size is 50 hectares (124 acres).  Machinery has grown in size and power and work forces have shrunk dramatically over the past 20 years which has resulted in a work force more frequently working on their own across large and isolated areas with this new equipment.

The question then has to be why with a smaller work force is the safety record so poor and what can you do to reverse this trend on your own managed farms and estates?

Farms need to formalise and follow up

Many farms may have a poor safety record because they are smaller and don’t have a formal policy -in some cases nothing at all.  Legally, a formal written policy must be in place where there are five or more employees; this includes partners and directors regardless of whether they are actively involved with day-to day work.  So if you don’t have anything now is a good time to put something in place. Review what you have got on a regular basis, at least annually; is it sufficient, does it cover what you actually do? Another thing to consider is for farms that have diversified – they are more likely to have the general public on their properties on a regular basis and therefore have a responsibility to them as well.

Diversity in tasks leads to more risks

The range of tasks that are performed by farm/estate staff is huge and agriculture is unique in this aspect; few other industries would expect employees to carry out such a range of tasks.  Employees are therefore frequently a ‘jack of all trades’ as a result they are possibly pre-disposed to having a greater number of accidents than someone who is employed to carry out the same task or type of task every day.

Learn from your mistakes, many farm/estate employees take the attitude that the odd knock and scrape is all part of the job and frequently don’t report accidents or near-misses that they may have had.  However, it is important to record them otherwise how can you determine if there is a trend of accidents or near misses with a particular machine or task that is carried out?  Only by knowing can farm accidents be addressed and employees protected. 

Aim to train, review and assess

It’s important to meet with employees to discuss health & safety on a regular basis. After all, they are the ones doing the work and are best placed to alert you to any failings they know of.  In addition to this, regular training of staff is essential as machinery is getting larger and more complex and employers need to make sure their operators are able to use it correctly and safely.

Assess your farm/estate for hazards and risks and formalise your findings; only by reviewing what you are actually doing will you be able to determine whether the tasks are being carried out safely and whether measures need to be implemented to provide a safer working environment.  A risk assessment is not a complicated procedure and is something we all do as part of our everyday life but for many of the tasks that are carried out on farms and estates a risk assessment is required by law.