Farming safety experts have pledged to halve the number of agricultural injuries as Farm Safety Week begins.
Campaign leaders The Farm Safety Foundation will promote case studies, articles and guest blogs on their site, with the National Farmers Union encouraging farmers to email or tweet their safety practises throughout the week.
The Healthy and Safety Executive figures released earlier this month revealed that farming and agriculture has one of the worse injury and fatality records, with 29 deaths last year, and an injury rate 18 times higher than other industries.
Farming minister George Eustice backed the campaign commenting: “The farming industry is essential to our national economy – employing more than 340,000 people – and plays a vital role in producing the food that we all know and love.
“Initiatives, such as Farm Safety Week, are important in raising awareness of good workplace practice, and I encourage farmers across the UK to read this week’s case studies, articles and blogs to help understand how they can stay safe at work.”
This year the foundation will focus on child safety, mental health and what a “good” farm looks like, using the slogan “Your Health. Your Safety. Your Choice!”
The Rural Industries Group of IOSH, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, is adding its support to Farm Safety Week for a fifth straight year, asking members and their clients to pledge to make the sector safer.
Group vice-chair Alan Plom said: “Despite the inherent risks farming has as an industry, a lot of great work is happening. We’re pleased to see this year’s Farm Safety Week sharing good practice, focusing on what works well.
“The Farm Safety Partnership in England has pledged to reduce deaths in farming by 50 per cent over the next five years. IOSH and RIG members in particular have an important role to play sharing messages and helping the industry meet this commitment.
“Together, this week, we can publicise our own pledges and demonstrate how, with strong risk management procedures and taking sufficient time to plan and think, we can protect workers, their families and other members of the public on our farms.”
NFU President Minette Batters said she would be focusing on tractor safety during the campaign.
“I know of too many farmers knocked down, run over and killed by moving vehicles, we need to change the culture and every one of us needs to step up and do more,” Batters said.
