This month the Farm Safety Foundation launches its 12th annual Farm Safety Week.
The charity was set up to raise the awareness of the mental health, safety and welfare of all farmers and particularly raising safety awareness in farmers under 40.
The Alarming State of Farm Safety
One of its key aims is to 'change the attitudes towards risk talking and poor safety behaviours in the next generation of farmers'.
HSE accident statistics for 2022/23 reported that whilst farming accounts for 1% of the working population it recorded an alarming 16% of all workplace deaths, plus on average a further 23,000 reported cases every year of long term ill health or serious injury.
What Is Farm Safety Week About?
Farm Safety Week is a good opportunity to refocus your minds on the health, safety and welfare arrangements on your farm and 'rethink the risks' that you might be exposed to on a daily basis.
As farms are both places of work and home it can be very easy to become over familiar with your surroundings and therefore accepting risks and not necessarily seeing where safety could be improved.
This quote from Farmers Weekly Reader, David Bennett, makes good sense: "Just because you've been doing it this way for years - doesn't mean it's safe. Take a fresh look at old habits".
We therefore encourage you this Farm Safety Week and going forward, to rethink the risks on your farm and what yourselves and your colleagues might be exposed to and identify where changes could be made to reduce the risk of accident, ill heath or injury.
Farm Safety Foundation carried out research in 2023 and found that approximately 21% of staff that took part in the survey, stated that they were willing to take a risk with their own safety when carrying out a task on farm and approximately a third of staff stated that they would never stop and carry out a risk assessment before starting a work task.
The Role of Human Behaviour in Farm Incidents
Human behaviours and management practices have been identified as causal factors in 90% of agricultural incidents so managing attitudes to safety and welfare and improving a safety culture within your team is a key way to help reduce likelihood of accidents.
Remind the team - thinking about safety before undertaking a task should be a normal practice and working safety culture and given more emphasis than finishing tasks on time.
We would therefore encourage you to have conversations with your team and work on improving communications of hazards and risks and developing a safety culture.
Revisit existing work practices for daily and occasional tasks and see if the current work methods control the risks adequately.
Discuss potential improvements to work methods to improve safety.
Encourage staff to carry out dynamic risk assessments and 'stop and take 10 mins and plan the task safely'.
Set up WhatsApp groups for daily conversations about safety and encourage reporting of hazards, near misses and ideas for improvement.
Farm Safety Foundation will be highlighting during the week about the importance of reporting and not ignoring hazards and near misses.
It has been shown that near misses (a scenario where an injury related accident could have occurred - but you got away with it) - should be seen as an opportunity to stop, learn about what could have happened and reassess the risk and improve working practices.
There are lots of resources out there to help start the conversation - see below for some topics of discussion that recent charities and industries have been raising the profile of for this Farm Safety Week 2024.
Mental Health in Farming: Breaking the Silence
Farm Safety Foundation - is also about raising awareness of good mental health.
Charity Mates in Mind have released some resources ahead of Farm Safety Week 2204 to start the conversation. They say:
Here at Mates in Mind, we believe breaking the silence and stigma surrounding mental ill-health is a crucial step towards providing a safe and healthy workplace environment. Let's start the conversation.
At Mates in Mind, we believe that there is no health without mental health.
Farm Safety Week - download free resources | Mates in Mind
See the website for more resources.
Partner Initiatives Supporting Farm Safety Week
Ahead of Farm Safety Week - and electricity distribution network operator - Northern PowerGrid launches its Safety campaign - ''Look Up its Live'
They have issued an information guide on what farmers and their workers must do to avoid becoming one of those statistics.
They advise:
- Inform anyone working near power lines of the dangers and the action they should take if an emergency arises
- You don't have to make contact with a power line to be in danger as electricity can jump to an object or person, so stay well clear
- Risk assess every situation on every occasion, as ground levels can change over time and reduce vehicle clearance
- Always carry a mobile phone
See link above for more infomation including what to do in an emergency.
The Farm Community Network has slots of other resources on its working safely webpage see below:
