The areas of the country it will be focusing its visits on include:
- North Wales
- East Anglia
- North East
- South Coast
- West Midlands
Both Lantra and NFU are offering some free places on a farm safety training course (NB: HSE have stressed that farm visits will be selected at random and not chosen if you have taken up the course offer from them).
The course will cover reminders of the key hazards faced on the farm and some safety reminders.
If you are interested in arranging some training, LKL has a 1/2 day Farm Safety Awareness and Wellbeing course (which includes introduction to risk assessment) - then contact your Regional Manager for more information and booking a training date.
What can you do to prepare for a HSE visit
There are things that you can do to prepare for a HSE visit - but - we would argue - that it's a good idea to revisit Health and Safety standards and staff H&S training and skills on your farm periodically throughout the year and especially if you have new starters joining your team or if you introduce a new piece of machinery or equipment.
Remember: inspectors have limited time so they are going to look at past performance and focus first on the highest H&S risks known in the industry - such as the causes of the most serious accidents, e.g. work at height, transport and machinery and working with cattle - as they want to be most effective during their visit in both enforcement (where compliance is lacking) and providing good targeted Health and Safety advice to reduce risk of accidents at your workplace.
Key areas to focus on:
- Cattle Handling
- Slurry Handling
- Work at Height - silage, bale handling, roofs, etc
- Transport and Machinery - transport/pedestrian risks, machinery maintenance and inspection, LOLER, training, etc
Here are some starting points to help prepare for a HSE Inspection or a general review of H&S standards on your Farm:
Review your accidents, incidents and near misses - make sure they were investigated and practical changes made were required to include staff refresher training and a change in ways of working.
Review your Health & Safety Policy and Procedures - ensure you have suitable H&S Policy and Employee responsibilities that are clearly communicated and advise staff on arrangements in place - check your paperwork.
Ensure everyone is adequately trained for the work they are carrying out - in some cases this will include formal training (and certification - issue of tickets) - particularly in the use of equipment and machinery such as telehandlers, tractors and ATV's and for towing trailers. LKL can offer some of this training - again contact your Regional Manager to discuss. Remember - in farm accidents statistics - there were a high proportion of transport and machinery related incidents - so this area of H&S training is of high importance.
- H&S Induction training is essential for new staff - use the LKL Contractor H&S handbook as a guide to help ensure H&S arrangements and best practice are adequately communicated and understood and record and sign off the training.
Review - Risk Assessments and Safe Systems of work - make sure any safe working procedures are adequately communicated to staff and they are adhering to safe ways of working, not taking shortcuts and they are wearing any PPE provided.
Review Machinery and Equipment Maintenance and Inspection Programmes including pre-use checks - having robust and organised maintenance and inspection programmes for work equipment helps keep it running efficiently and safely, e.g. telehandler LOLER inspections.
- It should be normal practice for some pre-use visual checks by staff before they use a piece of equipment. For example of PTO guards, guarding to slurry lagoons, cattle handling equipment, electrical leads, plugs, ladders, etc. that can get easily damaged - (keep records where you can) - all staff should know and feel authorised to take a dangerous piece of equipment out of use and report to managers and other staff immediately.
Review general housekeeping standards - slips, trips and falls in a workplace are very common and can lead to nasty injuries and broken bones. Often a good initial indication of H&S can be how tidy the work and welfare spaces are kept. Make time to ensure things like hoses, leads, chemical containers, work equipment and waste materials are tidied away into storage, shelving or space allocated for them. Tidy up after yourself and keep a cleaning rota going for welfare spaces.
Review Management of COSHH Chemicals and Veterinary Medicines - ensure staff have adequate information about the hazards of certain chemicals from chemical burns and splashes or allergic reactions. Ensure everyone wears the right PPE and it's easily available and kept clean (keep a supply of spares). Have First Aid supplies - eye wash or easy access to clean hose and running water for decontamination purposes.
- Veterinary Medicines should be kept secure and staff trained in their use - contact LKL Regional Managers if you are interested in a veterinary medicines training course.
Ensure talking about H&S is normal practice - H&S is everyone's responsibility and staff have a duty of care to look after their own H&S and make sure their actions don't affect the safety of others. Keep talking about looking out for each other and safety standards on the farm and encourage everyone to discuss any H&S concerns and work together to improve safety on the farm. Make sure that Health & Safety is a standing item on any farm team meeting agenda.
Here are links to some resources that you can find on our LKL H&S Pages:
What a Good Farm Looks Like - HSE leaflet (Covers H&S Management). NB: Also available in Welsh
Farmwise - Your essential guide to H&S in Agriculture - HSE Guide covering general agricultural H&S
LKL Farm safety Information - some short summaries of key H&S information on a variety of farm safety topics we have discussed at LKL over the last 5 years - see also our Safety Notes in our Newsletters
