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Know How / Health and safety

Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries in the UK because of the high level of fatal accidents and life-changing injuries. Learn from the experiences of farmers who have been involved in an accident and read practical advice on how to make working on your farm safer.

Key areas of focus:

  • Preventing accidents such as falls from height
  • How to handle livestock safely
  • Safety around machinery
  • Slurry handling safety
  • Pesticide storage

Must reads

Dying to Feed You campaign

Case studies

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Beca fractured skull in quad accident

Beca Glyn was herding sheep across the road on her quad bike when she had an accident. Sadly, she wasn't wearing a helmet and the impact resulted in a serious…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Mike Nixon fell 28ft through a shed roof

Mike Nixon fell through a shed roof to clean the guttering. He landed on a concrete scrape passage and sustained a serious spinal cord injury.  It began like a normal…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Rob was attacked by a cow after calving

Rob Lewis was left with a fractured spine after being attacked by a cow while feeding a calf. Here, he tells his story. It’s a day that will be etched…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: James was dragged into a potato harvester

James Bannister lost his left arm after being dragged into a potato harvester. After the trauma of being stuck inside the machine for over two hours, he was airlifted to…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to feed you: James said 'Mum, I've lost my arm'

James Chapman lost his left arm after his jacket was caught in a pto shaft. Read his story and watch the video. I think it was a Thursday morning. I…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to feed you: Tim fell 14ft and lost part of his skull

Norfolk farmer Tim Papworth spent five weeks in a coma and had part of his skull removed after falling from a ladder. Tim took an easy route to a job,…

Practical advice

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HOUSING AND HANDLING

3 cattle handling kit options to stay safe at calving

Long hours, a lack of sleep, busy workloads and extra handling of livestock make calving a particularly risky time of year for farm staff. In addition, handling stock with protective…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Why testing electrical equipment is essential for tenants

Maintaining electrical equipment in safe working order has many benefits for both tenants and landlords and can prevent unexpected and expensive costs and stress. For example, a tenant may have…

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Railway fencing safety: What livestock farmers need to know

Figures produced by Network Rail in 2019 show that incidents involved more than 800 animals through the year. Of these, about 80 were struck by trains. The downtime caused by…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Guidance on workplace Covid safety for a smooth harvest 2021

Farmers are being advised to remain vigilant to the dangers and risks of Covid-19 ahead of this year’s harvest. The latest government guidance across all the devolved nations is for…

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

How to manage tree safety on farms to reduce risk and cost

During the pandemic, the desire for scenic walks and staycations has brought the British countryside – and its trees – into the spotlight.  Trees and woodland need to be managed…

DAIRY

4 tips to get staff to buy into farm biosecurity protocols

Only 31% of farmers follow biosecurity protocols, according to a survey of 100 UK dairy farmers by hygiene specialist Progiene. The biggest reason biosecurity protocols were broken was lack of…

Insights

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SPRAYERS

Options expanded for closed-transfer sprayer filling

Serious concerns about operator and environmental safety when climbing onto sprayers to pour neat chemical into the top of tanks were raised by safety regulators as far back as the…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Farmers Weekly launches campaign to make our industry safer

Growers and livestock producers are dicing with death on a daily basis – with half of all farmers saying they know someone killed in a workplace accident. The stark statistic…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

How to stay safe with cattle as public footfall increases

Lives could be lost and livelihoods jeopardised with more members of the public coming into close contact with farm animals, as the trend for countryside walking continues post-lockdown, say experts.…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Why trailer load safety is crucial for farmers

Debris on the road and heavy machinery moving around on trailers due to insecure loading or careless driving are among the concerns of rural road police during a busy time…

News

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BUSINESS

HSE gearing up for farm safety inspections

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is gearing up for farm inspections this autumn as part of ongoing efforts to improve agriculture’s poor safety record. Initial figures from the HSE…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Farm deaths almost halve in 12 months, new HSE figures show

The number of deaths on British farms in the past year has almost halved compared with the previous 12-month period. But campaigners have warned the industry is not working fast…

ARABLE

Huge fire rips through farmer's field in North Yorkshire

A North Yorkshire farmer has been left counting the cost after a massive fire ripped through an arable field near Ripon. Dramatic footage has emerged on social media of a…

ARABLE

Fire crews tackle field blazes amid July heatwave

Fire crews were called into action to tackle several serious field blazes over the weekend, and their quick thinking prevented the flames from destroying large areas of standing crops. Two…

Video

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HARVEST

Video: Farmer shares lessons learnt fighting huge crop fire

Since the early start to harvest at the beginning of July, Twitter has been awash with reports of crop fires across the country, exacerbated by tinder-dry conditions. As the hot,…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Beca fractured skull in quad accident

Beca Glyn was herding sheep across the road on her quad bike when she had an accident. Sadly, she wasn't wearing a helmet and the impact resulted in a serious…

Insurer highlights common farm safety pitfalls

South West insurer Cornish Mutual has released a series of videos to help farmers and landowners avoid common health and safety pitfalls. The four videos were released following a recent…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Video: Tractor near miss on level crossing

This is the heart-stopping moment a tractor driver cheated death after narrowly avoiding a collision with a train on a level crossing. Dramatic footage has emerged from the cab of…

Other online resources

HSE: What a good farm looks like

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HSE: Farmwise guide to health and safety in agriculture

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Health and safety training - Lantra Awards

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NFU farm vehicle health check - guide and check sheet

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