HSE launches farm safety crackdown in East Midlands

Health and Safety Executive inspectors will be launching a safety inspection blitz on farms harvesting potatoes, and other root crops in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire during the next few weeks.

The busy root crop harvesting season between August and October is a prime time for farming accidents and has claimed the lives of nine workers between 1992 - 2002, nationally.

In 2001/02 across the agricultural sector as a whole in the East Midlands, five people were killed and there were a total of 207 reported injuries.

County Injuries Deaths

Derbyshire 15 0

Leicestershire 24 1

Lincolnshire 106 3

Northants 22 0

Nottinghamshire 40 1

TOTAL 207 5

Frank Lomas, HM Principal Inspector of Health and Safety, said farm staff should ensure:

- machinery is properly maintained and inspected before its used to

make sure it's safe

- guards are always kept in place

- machinery is always stopped safely for cleaning or maintenance

- operators and others receive proper training and instruction

before they start work

He continued: "Every year a farmers and farm workers are needlessly injured whilst field crops such as potatoes are being lifted. Many accidents could be prevented by the 'safe stop' procedure which involves applying the parking brake, putting all the controls in neutral, switching the tractor engine off and removing the ignition key before going to investigate and clear whatever is blocking the machinery."

"The dangers don't stop there however. Many transport related accidents occur back at the farmyard where the harvested crop is taken for storage."

"Safety procedures aren't there to make life difficult for farmers - they're vital to save lives. The purpose of the forthcoming blitz is to ensure that the law is being complied with. Where it is not HSE inspectors will be taking the appropriate enforcement action, including prosecution if the circumstances warrant it."