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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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BUSINESS

Advice on asbestos rules and responsibilities for farmers

A quarter of a century since the material was banned, asbestos-related diseases remain the greatest cause of work-related deaths in Britain, accounting for some 5,000 lives a year, according to…

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…

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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NEWS

HSE issues fine after worker falls through sheep shed roof

Failing to implement basic working at height safety measures, which resulted in a worker suffering life-changing injuries, has cost a North Yorkshire construction company and its director more than £110,000…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Handwashing advice following cryptosporidium outbreak

Farm visitors and farmers alike have been reminded to follow good hygiene practices to avoid spreading diseases and parasites such as cryptosporidium. The call from Public Health Wales for visitors…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Older farmworkers at greatest accident risk on NI farms

Agriculture continues to be the most dangerous profession for workplace injuries and fatalities in Northern Ireland (NI), with older farmers particularly vulnerable to accidents. Finding ways to improve this poor…

WEATHER

Farmworkers advised to cover up as temperatures soar

With the Met office reporting the sunniest April on record and temperatures climbing to the high 20s in parts of the UK, the NFU has issued guidance to help outdoor…

Video

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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…

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

Video: Young farmer cheats death in quad bike accident

A young farmer has told how she cheated death in a quad bike accident which left her with a fractured skull, neck injuries and major bruising. Beca Glyn, 26, was…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Video: Tractor crashes into 130kV electricity pylon

A farmworker had a lucky escape after his tractor hit a National Grid electricity pylon – demolishing the structure and causing a major power outage. Emergency services were called to…