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.
Unfortunately it’s been reported that farm fatality statistics for 2023 are so far almost double from this time last year - so the conversation is still just as important as before.
The main theme for the campaign this year is Farm Safety Starts with Me - recognising that we all need to work harder to encourage good safety behaviours on farm and increase safety awareness. Everyone has their own part to play in making good decisions about working safely in farming and staying alive and looking out for each other.
It’s been recognised that poor safety culture was attributed to the causal factors in about 90% of accidents so working towards improving this within your farming team can make a real difference.
I believe that in order to succeed in improving farm safety long term there needs to be work within the organisation of farms to improve safety culture and encourage individual and team ownership of their own health and safety.
Remember Thinking about Safety should be a normal part of working culture and given more emphasis than ‘completing tasks on time’.
Remember that Farm Safety Partnership ‘Yellow Wellies’ Logo and ‘Who will Fill your Boots’ goes to the heart of stating that you are your Farms most valuable asset - above your most expensive Farm machinery and without you the farm doesn't operate - so put the health and safety of yourself and other people on your farm at the forefront of planning all your working activities.
See our Safety Note to read more.
