Researchers have developed a training course designed specifically for farmers which emphasises the importance of non-technical skills (NTS).
The University of Aberdeen course is the first to showcase the importance of NTS for farmers, using techniques borrowed from the aviation industry.
Non-technical skills refer to a subset of ‘human factor’ skills such as task management and situation awareness and have been examined extensively in other high-risk industries including aviation, offshore drilling and healthcare.
However, the NTSAg research team at the university are the only group studying these skills in farming, and this will be the first farmer specific NTS training course developed anywhere.
Farming is the most dangerous industry in the UK with 14,000 non-fatal injuries and 39 deaths during 2018 and 2019 - a fatality rate 18 times higher than the general industry average.
Causes of death remain broadly the same over the past five years with being struck by a moving vehicle, injured by an animal and falls from height being the most frequent causes.
Such a consistently high fatality rate has prompted farming organisations and safety professionals to look for a new approach to improve farm safety and reduce fatalities.
Dr Amy Irwin and the NTSAg team have studied the accident rate in farming for more than six years and have applied their knowledge of NTS in other industries to identify which would be the key skills for farmers.
The team have applied this research by developing a training course with training organisation KURA Human Factors.
Dr Amy Irwin explains: “Non-technical skills fall into two categories - cognitive thinking skills such as decision-making and situation awareness, and social interaction skills such as teamwork and communication.
"Our research over the years has found that these skills, in conjunction with technical know-how, are key to ensuring safe and effective performance at work.”
Originally identified as crucial for safety in aviation where NTS training is mandatory, training in these skills has been successfully applied across a range of high-risk industries with the aim of reducing work-place injuries and fatalities.
Bringing this knowledge to farming, the team have produced a range of practical tools designed to develop and enhance these skills within agriculture.
These include the tractor situation awareness checklist and the farmer resource management guide, both distributed to thousands of farmers in the UK.
Dr Irwin added: “Many industries emphasise the importance of NTS, and some, including aviation make it mandatory, however development of these skills has not been addressed in agriculture until now.
"The current collaboration builds on our strong foundation of research and practical tools to produce an entirely original farmer training programme that mirrors the techniques used to train NTS in aviation and construction.
“We hope that by providing a new, novel, training course in these skills we can turn our research findings into improved safety for farmers.”
Niven Phoenix from KURA added that an evidence based non-technical skills course for agricultural workers was long overdue.
"The advent of technology in farming has been astounding with systems and hardware that has advanced out of sync with the training required to manage the increased risk presented."
