Derbyshire farmer killed in cattle handling incident

A farmer was killed while moving livestock in Derbyshire earlier this month, the Health and Safety Executive has said.

In an initial notification released this week, HSE reported that the farmer sustained fatal injuries when moving cattle on Tuesday 6 September.

Following the tragic incident, HSE issued safety guidance for livestock handling, which is one of the biggest causes of death and serious injury on farms.

See also: Farmers Weekly launches campaign to make our industry safer

The HSE notification said: “The death has been treated as work-related, but this will be subject to further assessment.

“The links to existing guidance are to help recipients to promote health and safety and should not be taken to imply details of cause of the incident.”

HSE guidance says there should be suitable equipment in place and a system of work for all livestock-related activities on the farm.

This includes loading and unloading animals on to trailers, calving, moving cattle, husbandry tasks and veterinary work. It is also important to plan cattle-handling activities before carrying them out.

To reduce the risk of injury to farm workers and vets when handling cattle, HSE said farms should use:

• handling facilities that are kept in good working order
• a race and crush suitable for the tasks being undertaken
• techniques to keep people segregated from cattle
• trained, competent and agile people
• a rigorous culling policy for temperamental animals