The Farmers Mart Feb-Mar 2020 - Issue 67 | Page 26

26 FARM NEWS
FEB/MAR 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
HSE TO CARRY OUR INSPECTIONS ON
FARMS FOLLOWING SAFETY ALERT
FARMERS are being
reminded that they must
protect their workers’
health by controlling the
risks from welding fume.
The Health and Safety
Executive’s (HSE) current
programme of inspections
will review health and
safety standards on farms
across the country, and
the industry is being
encouraged to visit HSE’s
revised guidance to
remind themselves of
the changes to control
expectations.
To protect your workers’
health, you must ensure
you have adequate
controls in place to avoid
or reduce exposure to
welding fume. Employers
should be using local
exhaust ventilation where
effective and provide suit-
able respiratory protective
equipment where neces-
sary to protect workers
in the metal fabrication
industry from inhaling
fumes.
The inspections follow a
safety alert that was issued
in February 2019 after new
evidence showed expo-
sure to mild steel welding
fume can cause cancer
and HSE updated guid-
ance to reflect this.
Scientific evidence from
the International Agency
for Research on Cancer
shows that exposure to
mild steel welding fume
can cause lung cancer and
possibly kidney cancer in
humans.
‘ protect your
workers’
health ’
Adrian Hodkinson,
Acting Head of Agriculture
at HSE said: “Everyone
involved in farming has
a role to play. While
welding carried out in
the agricultural sector
can be infrequent or of
low-intensity, employers
still need to understand
the risk they and their
employees face in terms
of exposure to welding
fume, and the simple
ways they can be
managed.
“Farmers are reminded
that death, injuries and
cases of ill-health are
not an inevitable part of
farming.”
www.hse.gov.uk
www.legislation.gov.uk/
From tools and videos, to web pages and
publications, AHDB has strengthened its
cereal disease management guidance for 2020
It follows the move of cereals and oilseeds information to a new
website, which will cover all content generated by AHDB: ahdb.org.uk
AHDB has also announced
plans to update the industry
on the status of the UK’s cereal
pathogen populations.
The AHDB Wheat and barley
disease management guide
and associated web pages are
major new resources. Together,
they provide the in-depth
information required to tackle
major cereal diseases through
integrated pest management
(IPM).
Complementing the popular
AHDB Encyclopaedia of cereal
diseases, the new guidance
highlights disease risk factors
and provides at-a-glance man-
agement solutions.
Target disease web pages
dive deeper and explore hosts,
life cycles and symptoms.
The pages also bring together
developments on non-chemical
and chemical control, including
fungicide performance data
and tips on designing fungicide
programmes.
The AHDB Recommended
Lists (RL) has exploited the
digital arena for many years,
with results released online
months ahead of the physical
publication. To add value to
the RL, the 2020/21 data was
launched alongside an online
variety selection tool. Later this
year, AHDB plans to issue an RL
app to ensure the latest varietal
‘ the new guidance
highlights disease
risk factors and
provides at-a-
glance management
solutions
’
information is always at farmers’
fingertips.
Last year, AHDB issued the
winter wheat disease ratings
for yellow rust and brown rust
online ahead of the full RL. This
followed reports of higher than
expected disease levels during
the 2018/19 growing season.
However, varietal resistance was
in line with recent years and
no major changes in resistance
ratings occurred.
However, an analysis of wheat
samples, gathered during the
2018/19 season, will provide a
clearer picture of whether a shift
in the UK yellow and brown rust
populations has occurred. The
UK Cereal Pathogen Virulence
Survey (UKCPVS) stakeholder
event, on 4 March 2020 in
Cambridgeshire, will outline the
latest situation.
ahdb.org.uk/rl
ahdb.org.uk/ukcpvs