HSE urges safety rethink as inspectors visit farms as part of national campaign
Farmers are being warned they must change their attitude towards safety as the Health and Safety Executive prepares for a wave of inspections in the coming months.
Inspectors from HSE will visit farms across England and Wales as part of a push to change the culture in the industry and check for compliance with long standing legal requirements.
People on farms are 21 times more likely to be killed in a workplace accident than other sectors.
In total, there have been 161 deaths on Britain’s farms over the last five years - an average of 26 people each year. This includes members of the public and children.
The visits, from this week to next April, will focus on the main causes of death in farming, including working with cattle, operating and maintaining vehicles and falls from height.
They will also look at risks to members of the public, which often means the management of cattle around public rights of way, as well as child safety on farms. HSE plans to carry out 440 visits during the campaign.
HSE inspector Kathy Gostick said: “We will not only be checking farmers’ knowledge of risk but also making sure they understand their responsibility to themselves and others.
"We will look at actions they have taken to control these risks and comply with the law.”
Although, the number of deaths in the agricultural sector has fallen by around half since the early 1980s, the rate of fatalities, which is based on the number of people at work in the sector, has remained high compared to other industries.
Kathy added: “There are simply too many tragedies in farming and it is time for that to change.
“We are committed to making workplaces safer and healthier and that includes agriculture – we will do this by highlighting the risks, providing advice and guidance, and by holding employers to account for their actions.
“This means changing attitudes towards safety – it is the only way we will reduce the numbers of people being injured or killed.
“These upcoming inspections will help drive home the message that the only way we can bring down the numbers being injured or killed is if we change behaviour.”
