The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2017 - Issue 53 | Page 14

Farm 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 that 30 people
were killed on farms in just 12 months – making
agriculture the most dangerous industry to work in.
» » FIGURES 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).
‘Health and safety
is a fundamental
requirement of any
farming operation, no
matter how small or
well-establisehd it is,
and minimising risk
should be top priority’
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 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
14 Oct/Nov 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
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.
Richard Wade
“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.
‘agriculture had the
highest rate of fatal injury,
around 18 times higher
than All Industry rate’
“It may also be a case of farmers, due
to economic constraints, are having to
manage 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
www.lycetts.co.uk