Farmers Weekly Launches Health & Safety Campaign
Posted on 4th November 2021 at 15:31
A new health and safety campaign called Dying to Feed You has been launched by Farmers Weekly, designed to reduce the number of accidents on farms around the UK and drive down the fatality rate in the agriculture industry, which is the most dangerous of all sectors in the country.
A study carried out to mark the launch of the campaign found that one in five farmers surveyed admitted to having had a workplace accident within the last 12 months. And half of all farmers said they know someone who had been killed in an accident in the workplace.
Of all the main UK industries, farming hasthe worst fatal accident rate, 20 times higher than the all-industry average, figures from the Health and Safety Executive show.
Over the coming year, stories of farm accident survivors will be shared, telling all about their life-changing experiences so as to better help others stay safe, whether they’re on the farm or in the field.
Some 60 per cent of survey respondents did admit to sometimes taking unnecessary risks, such as knowingly operating unsafe machinery, driving tractors while on mobile phones, getting on and off moving vehicles and carrying machinery while it was still running.
Editor of Farmers Weekly Andrew Meredith said: “We work in a dangerous industry, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Improving safety is not an impossible task. I’d like to thank every contributor to this important campaign. I hope this sparks a wider conversation about safety that is the first step towards reducing our accident rate.”
HSE stats also show that in 2020/2021, 41 people were killed in agriculture - 18 more than in 2020 and eight more than the five-year average of 33. This is the highest number of deaths recorded in the last five years.
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