Farm Safety Week

It’s no secret, if you’re reading this, you’re highly likely to be employed in the UK’s most dangerous industry.

As of the 2016 statistics, the agriculture sector accounts proportionally for the most deaths in the workplace by a significant margin.

While only employing a petite 1% of the workforce, farming and agriculture still claims a 19% proportion of workplace fatalities. Unfortunately, for the agriculture sector, this seems to be true to form. For example, in 2014-15, there was a 22% in farm fatalities compared to the previous year, with 33 being killed on farms in the year 2014-2015. That means this year, though it is still the most dangerous industry, the number of fatalities is down by 4 deaths.
To quote HSE head of agriculture Rick Brunt, 29 deaths in the year 2015-2016 is still “29 deaths too many.” He also said “we know that these numbers fluctuate and, sadly, agriculture still has the poorest health and safety record in Great Britain”. He went on to say “There is nothing new about the risks that farmer’s face, and all too often people are killed because they don’t take simple precautions. I urge farmers to carefully consider the risks they face and to plan how they will do their job safely.”

Fortunately, there are ways in which we can do our job safely, and that is where Agri-Linc comes in.

In the year 2015-16, 15% of non-fatal accidents were caused by lifting and handling, but if this is performed using the right equipment correctly, such incidents will not happen check out our lifting, handling and haulage page. More essential safety products can also be purchased with ease on our website; see http://www.agri-linc.com/haulage-agri-equipment/safety-products-signs.html and http://www.agri-linc.com/haulage-agri-equipment/ppe-first-aid-equipment.html.

Farming is one of the oldest professions, yet no amount of technology can make it hazard-free. It is necessary to take these precautions, and follow the rules, because in agriculture, death is often only one mistake away.