Health & Safety on the Farm
Posted: Thursday 25 February 2010
According to the Health and Safety Executive, around 400,000 people worked in agriculture (less than 1.5% of the working population) in May 2009, yet agriculture has one of the highest fatal accident rates of any industry in the UK. This article will focus briefly on two topical areas; namely, working at height in agriculture and forestry and how farm diversification has resulted in some new health and safety prosecutions.
Working at Height
Deaths recorded in agriculture from falls through roofs has been a priority area for the Healthy and Safety Executive since 2000. The crucial piece of legislation here is the Work at Height Regulations 2005. This applies to work that creates both the risk of people falling from height and of objects falling on to people below.
In respect of people working at height, the regulations are based upon an over-riding principle that suitable and sufficient measures are taken to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury. The regulations then go on to impose a number of measures which are designed to minimise that risk. In an agricultural context this has seen farmers replace their old faithful of an unsecured “tattie box” on forklift pallet forks with a safety cage/working platform which attaches securely to the forklift, the purpose of which is to prevent people and objects from falling.
Prosecutions under the Work at Height regulations 2005 have not just been limited to accidents in and around farm buildings and farm steadings; prosecutions have occurred in relation to forestry and tree surgeons. In a recent Scottish case the employers, who were a firm of tree surgeons, were successfully prosecuted after an accident caused by the injured person cutting through a rope whilst he was cutting down a tree.
With a high accident rate to tackle and a keen HSE focus on the industry it is critical that employers in agriculture ensure that all work at height is properly risk assessed to ensure that measures are taken to reduce the risk of falls, to prevent objects falling from the work site and to identify fragile surfaces where further precautions will be needed.
Diversification
Diversification activities of farmers have also led to a number of recent health and safety prosecutions. Diversification projects e.g. farm shops, organised farm visits by schools etc have seen an increase in members of the public taking to the countryside. One of the most at risk groups are children. In 1998 the Prevention of Accidents to Children in Agriculture Regulations were introduced, followed up by an approved code of practice in 1999.
The regulations and code of practice apply to all children resident on farms, as well as visitors. One requirement of the 1998 regulations and, often ignored, is a prohibition on children under 13 from riding in tractor cabs or other self propelled machinery used in an agricultural operation where a known accident risk exists from farm machinery. Anyone who is bringing the public into a working farm steading environment should be aware of the risks involving the movement of heavy machinery and ensure that they have measures in place to keep vehicles and pedestrians separated – many deaths are the result of children being run over by an operator who was not aware of their presence. Where farmers are considering diversification it is essential that they carry out thorough risk assessments for all new activities and seek appropriate external advice if in doubt.
