Farmers ‘must do more’ to reduce fatalities on farm

After a tragic number of farming fatalities in recent months, farmers and the wider industry are being urged to improve on-farm safety and keep children out of danger.

The farming industry is already at nearly half the annual average number of deaths after just the past two to three months, according to NFU vice-president David Exwood.

He said figures suggest that people were three times more likely to have a fatal accident if they were over 65 and that they were also more likely to suffer a fatality if lone working.

See also: Safety plea after 18 people killed on farms this year

In light of recent fatalities, a question was put to the NFU Council on 27 June asking what the farming industry can do to get the message across to help reduce these numbers.

“We all need to think about how we bring about cultural change,” said Mr Exwood.

“There are some things we can learn from the statistics; we need to learn them and we need to apply them, so that we can educate and train people in a more specific way to make a difference.”

One group which aims to play a key role in changing behaviours on farm is the Farm Safety Partnership, a collection of farming organisations working together towards creating a safer industry.

The NFU now classes itself as the largest provider of training on farm safety in England, with hundreds of individuals taking part in farm safety days across the country during the past few months.

Children at risk

NFU environment forum member Joe Stanley said farming was the only industry that still had children dying in the workplace.

“It’s not acceptable and we do need to do something to change that,” he said.

“We know that we take our children on to farms because it’s where we live and it’s where we work. Mostly the children want to be on the farms, but the legal reality is, unless you have an adult supervising a child under the age of 13, that child should not be on the yard,” added Mr Stanley.