NEWS.

During Farm Safety Week 2023 - LKL announced that it was introducing a new award for an LKL individual or Team who had demonstrated good commitment to farm safety and welfare during the year.

This month the Farm Safety Foundation launches its 12th annual Farm Safety Week.

HSE announced last month that it would be no longer carrying out proactive Farm safety inspections and was switching its focus on workplace occupational health issues rather than preventative general health and safety inspections. It was always the plan to finish its last series of farm H&S inspections that it started in Autumn 2023 at the end of Spring 2024 but also announced to the Farm Safety Partnership group that it would no longer be running the Agricultural compliance event inspections for the foreseeable future.

Here at LKL, we have previously discussed that as part of your Transport/Pedestrian collision risk reduction measures, farmers should include hi-vis vests or clothing in their PPE requirements when completing certain jobs on the farm. Being hit by a moving vehicle is still among the Top 5 causes of fatal and major accidents on farms.

Farm Safety Foundation - is the charity leading the campaign to raise awareness of protecting the physical and mental wellbeing of those living and working in the farming sector.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced that they will be visiting farms across Great Britain throughout Winter 2023 and into Spring 2024, with inspections focusing on the main causes of death and serious injury in farming, including falls from height.

According to the HSE 20% of agricultural deaths in 2021/22 were due to people being struck by an object, with hay bales being a leading cause.

This month sees the launch of Farm Safety Partnership's 11th Annual Farm Safety week which encourages Farming communities to think and talk about health and safety on their farms and work towards improving standards.

In order to celebrate and promote that hard work to others - the LKL Safety Committee has decided to launch the Annual LKL Farm Safety Champion(s) Award which can be awarded to an LKL individual or LKL farming team who has been active in practically demonstrating their commitment to improving health, safety and wellness on their farm and the safety culture.

Sharing 'near misses' and lessons learned is a useful way to help each other learn by our mistakes and ensure improved safety.

HSE is just launching its farm safety campaign 'Your Farm - Your Future' to raise the awareness of vehicle safety.

LKL are issuing all LKL staff with a Hi Vis vest that they encourage staff to wear when moving around the farm yards and buildings particularly during low light levels.