A new safety campaign has launched aiming to reduce vehicle incidents on farms - the number one cause of deaths and serious injuries in British agriculture.
The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) campaign urges the farming community to do what they can to reduce the number of injuries involving vehicles.
Incidents involving moving vehicles have been responsible for 30% of all fatalities on farms over the past five years, equating to 48 lives lost, with hundreds more are hurt.
Figures show that agriculture consistently has the highest number of fatal and serious injuries of all industry sectors in Britain.
Over the past five years, the average fatal incident rate is twenty-one times higher in agriculture than the average across all other industries.
As part of its new campaign, HSE has created a website which brings together advice on using vehicles safely on farms.
The workplace safety regulator says there are three pieces in the vehicle safety jigsaw: operating a safe farm, maintaining a safe vehicle and being a safe driver.
Together, these pieces will help to keep everyone on farms safer. If one piece is missing, the risks increase.
Sue Thompson, HSE’s head of agriculture policy, said: “It’s time for us to make a change together to make our farms safer.
"We’re asking farmers to consider three areas of their daily farming activities and take the right actions to prevent another farming tragedy."
She added: “Farmers and farm workers should take a moment to think about what would happen to their families and their farms if they were seriously injured and unable to work.
“When people on farms start their daily routine, they should follow our safe farm, safe driver, safe vehicle advice to help plan the job and complete it safely.”
How do I improve vehicle safety?
The HSE's new campaign calls on farmers and farm workers to do the following:
• Segregate vehicles and people with clearly marked routes and walkways to keep them apart to avoid serious injuries.
• Use barriers and posts in high traffic areas to protect people and save lives.
• Use signage, good lighting and a high visibility clothing to help everyone be seen on the farm.
• Maintaining a safe vehicle - Detect faults now, before it’s too late
• Regularly check and maintain brakes. Trailers must have brakes designed for the maximum loads and speeds at which they will operate.
• Ensure a seatbelt is fitted and worn every time.
• For vehicles which have doors fitted as standard, make sure the doors are attached securely and remain closed when the vehicle is moving.
• For vehicles that have mirrors fitted as standard, double check they are fitted securely and are clean to ensure optimum visibility.
• Being a safe driver - Pause, take a moment to be a safer driver:
• Use the handbrake every time. To prevent serious injury if your vehicle moves due to the terrain or gradient, follow the simple safe stop routine before you get out
• Ensure you’ve been trained properly; training is vital to help keep everyone safe.
• Think visibility to protect everyone on the farm, whatever the vehicle
