Farmer Focus: Paperwork does not save lives
Andrew Wilson © Angela Waites Photography Among the myriads of inspections we endure every year, there is always one that provides a positive benefit (usually the vet), some that frustrate (assurance in all of its forms) and one that puts fear into us (the Health and Safety Executive).
I’m constantly risk assessing as I go about my day. I encourage staff to do the same, to build a culture of being responsible for our own personal safety and those around us, rather than relying on “someone else”.
Paperwork does not save lives in the same way that action and mindset can.
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About the author
I had a meeting recently with some official bodies on the subject – my argument being that legislation itself is not helping to improve safety on farms.
This is primarily because the views and experiences of those of us on the ground is not sought by manufacturers or legislators.
My philosophy here is simple – make the safe way, the easy way. It is human nature to do things the quick and easy way, so make convenience safe.
As farmers, we are constantly told we “must do better” when it comes to reducing accidents, but we can only use the tools at our disposal.
In my view, much of it could be far better designed when it comes to practical, operational safety.
In the early 1970s, it was possible to reverse the intake of a combine harvester from the operator’s platform to release a blockage.
Why then is it very rare to find a baler today, more than 50 years later, with the facility to release a blockage from the cab, but deaths of people getting frustrated with blocked baler intakes keep occurring?
Virtually, every person injured or killed in the workings of a harvester was there in the first place to clear a blockage. Blockages happen. Frustration happens. Guards don’t clear blockages.
If every roller could be reversed from the control panel, there would be no need to go near the extraction section.
We have a personnel cage for our telehandler. It is perfectly legal to use it to change a lightbulb in our grading shed should it blow midway through a load, because that constitutes an “emergency”.
It is, however, illegal to use it to clean the dust cover of the same light as part of pre-season maintenance, because that is planned work, so requires a cherry picker.
Ridiculous impractical rules are preventing investment in better practices on farms. It is madness.
