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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

Dying to Feed You campaign

Case studies

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Corrine's eye socket was fractured

Welsh farmer’s wife and nurse Corrine Mathias suffered a fractured eye socket after being attacked by a cow.  Watch her tell her story in the video and read the report…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Grace suffered multiple broken bones

Grace Addyman suffered multiple broken bones when she was hit by falling bales at her family farm. She tells us what happened on that day, the difficult surgery that followed…

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…

Practical advice

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Improving farm safety and saving lives

The statistics around farm fatalities and workplace injuries are truly sobering. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing had a fatal injury rate last year which was 21 times higher than the national…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

How to manage less common farm health and safety risks

The fatal incident rate in agriculture over the past five years has on average been 21 times higher than that across all other industries. Incidents involving animals or machinery and…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

How to keep lone workers safe on farm

Working alone is taken for granted in farming, and while it is often necessary, a change of attitude could improve not only safety but also the working culture. Oliver Dale,…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Fire service issues bale storage advice after barn fires

As the warm, dry weather continues, the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service has issued warnings to farmers after a recent spike in the number of barn fires.…

ARABLE

14 ways to stay safe this harvest 

Harvest is often an intense time for farmers and their families, with a dangerous cocktail of long working hours, large machinery and pressure to meet deadlines.  CXCS health and safety adviser Emily Jones shares some simple steps to…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Health and safety policy: What farmers need to include

There is no denying that farming can be a risky occupation. According to Health and Safety Executive figures, farmers and farmworkers are 20 times more likely to be killed at…

Insights

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Farm safety: Is there a level playing field for women?

Farm safety has become a much-discussed topic in recent years, and with good reason. Despite numerous safety campaigns, agriculture statistically remains the nation’s most dangerous industrial occupation. What is perhaps…

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…

News

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

'Use your head, use your helmet' say safety campaigners

A sheep farmer who was seriously injured after he was catapulted from a quad bike on his Scottish hill farm is urging every rider to wear a safety helmet as…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Code for Countryside Roads released due to high death rate

NFU Mutual has introduced a Code for Countryside Roads to address the high fatality rate on rural roads and enhance safety for vulnerable road users throughout the UK. The Code…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Industry urged to address safety around trailer couplings

Farming and engineering organisations are being urged to improve the advice and safety around linkages and couplings, following an incident in which a car driver was killed when a trailer…

NEWS

Farm fire costs hit £110m in 2023

New data from NFU Mutual reveals that the cost of farm fires surged by 37% in 2023, reaching an estimated £110.3m, prompting calls for better fire prevention strategies across the…

Video

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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…

VIDEO: Farm safety smartphone apps

Agriculture has one of the worst fatal accident records in any sector, according to the Health and Safety Executive. Transport accidents, either being run over or vehicle overturns account for…

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: Corrine's eye socket was fractured

Welsh farmer’s wife and nurse Corrine Mathias suffered a fractured eye socket after being attacked by a cow.  Watch her tell her story in the video and read the report…