| News
Warning after 30 people die on
farms in just 12 months
An agricultural risk expert is urging farmers to be vigilant after new figures show 30
people were killed on farms in just 12 months – making agriculture the most
dangerous industry to work in.
igures from the
Health and Safety
Executive (HSE)
have revealed that
in 2016/17,
agriculture had the
highest rate of fatal injury, around
18 times higher than the All
Industry rate*.
The main causes of death were
‘struck by vehicles’ (30 per cent),
‘trapped by something collapsing’
(20 per cent), ‘struck by an object’
(17 per cent), ‘contact with
electricity’ (10 per cent), ‘falling
from a height’ (7 per cent), and
‘injured by an animal’ (7 per cent).
Richard Wade, of Lycetts Risk
Management Services, said: “It is
worrying that agriculture remains
one of the most dangerous
industries, with the high fatality
rate far-exceeding other industries.
“HSE’s research shows that
vehicle-related activities
consistently lead to more deaths
than any other category, and that
half of the workers killed by
F
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something collapsing were taking
part in activities involving vehicles
and machinery.
“So, while some of these deaths
have been the result of freak
accidents, many could have been
prevented. Although this is a sad
fact, this gives us hope that, with
better practice on farms and safer
use of machinery, incidents like
this could become rarer.
“It is also promising to see that,
although the fatal injury rate for
agriculture has shown no clear
trend over the past 35 years, there
are signs of improvement over the
past five years.
“Hopefully this is down to
farmers being more vigilant about
safety and risk assessments – but
we still have a way to go.”
Agriculture has a 7.61 fatal
injury rate per 100,000 workers –
six times that of the construction
sector.
Whilst 27 of the past year’s
deaths involved workers, three
were members of the public.
The age of the victims varies
hugely, with the youngest being
three and the oldest, 80.
Nearly half of the workers killed
in agriculture were over 65 (13 out
of 27 deaths) and more than 85
per cent of workers killed were
over the age of 45.
Richard added: “What strikes
me is the high death rate of older
workers. Health and safety is a
fundamental requirement of any
farming operation, no matter how
small or well-established it is, and
minimising risk should be top
priority.
“It is also alarming that self-
employed farmers make up a large
proportion of deaths; 67 per cent -
20 out of 30 – of those who died
on farms were self-employed,
whilst 23 per cent were employees
and 10 per cent were members of
the public.
“There is a danger that farmers
who work for themselves harbour
a perception that they do not need
to carry out the necessary risk
assessments or abide by the
health and safety regulations, as
they don’t have any employees or
have been farming in a certain way
for decades. But, as this research
shows, this can have devastating
consequences.
“It may also be a case of
farmers, due to economic
constraints, are having to manage
Richard Wade
difficult and labour-heavy jobs by
themselves or with limited
resources – and are therefore
putting themselves at increased
risk.
“It is imperative that farmers
take health and safety seriously
and do their utmost to protect
themselves, their employees and
the public, as well as procuring
comprehensive insurance cover in
case a tragic incident like this does
occur.”
*The figures for 2016/17 are
provisional, covering the period
between April 1 2017 and March
31 2017.
For information on keeping your
farm safe, visit
hse.gov.uk/agriculture.
To find out more about Lycetts
or obtain further information about
farm insurance, visit lycetts.co.uk
October 2017 | Farming Monthly | 07