Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

HSE issues safety plea to farmers after four deaths in a fortnight

HSE is urging farmers to make safety a priority.
HSE is urging farmers to make safety a priority.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a safety plea to farmers after four fatal incidents on British farms in the past fortnight.

The safety regulator is calling on farmers, crofters and everyone working in the agricultural industry to make safety a priority.

It comes as four fatalities have been reported on British farms, including a man dying on an Angus farm on July 27 due to an apparent fall from height, and a three-year-old boy dying after a collision with a vehicle at a farm in south Wales on August 3.

Local police, in conjunction with HSE, are also carrying out investigations after a man died in a crushing incident involving a ramp falling from a truck at a farm in Hampshire on August 9, and a man was also found with fatal injuries surrounded by cattle at a field in Marshfield, South Gloucestershire.

“While we must respect the ongoing investigations following these tragic incidents, most injuries or deaths that we’ve historically seen on farms have been both predictable and preventable,” said HSE’s acting head of agriculture, Adrian Hodkinson.

“Despite the efforts of the Farm Safety Partnership in particular, an industry-wide change in attitude is needed for farmers to take action to protect themselves and others to the well-known risks they face.”

High rates

He said figures released last month show the agriculture industry has the worst rate of fatal injuries of all the major industrial sectors in the UK – around 20 times higher than the average five-year annual rate across all industries.

“We ask that farmers, farm workers and farming contractors  take the right steps to stop these incidents,” added Mr Hodkinson.

“The fatality rate within the sector is high, but there are simple measures workers can take to reduce risk including marking sure to switch off the power to vehicles or machinery before attempting to carry out repairs, keeping people away from moving vehicles, and ensuring dairy bulls, and cows with calves are not in fields with public footpaths.

“We are urging people who work on farms to make safety a priority and help us to reduce the number of deaths and injuries in the industry.”

Safety advice is available on the HSE website at hse.gov.uk