Campaign to make farms a safer place

TEENAGERS and those aged over 55 are the most likely age groups to suffer accidents on farms.

Judith Donovan, spearheading a Health and Safety Executive drive to reduce the number of farm-related accidents and deaths in the UK, said that statistics showed that it was the oldest and youngest of farmers who were most likely to be hurt or killed on farms.

She was speaking in the week that a 67-year-old farmer from Ridgeway, South Yorkshire, died after being attacked by a bull on his farm.

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Despite accounting for just 1.5 per cent of the UK's workforce, farmers make up 20 per cent of UK workplace deaths in the UK, with an average of more than 40 farmers dying on UK farms every year.

And while deaths caused by animals tend to be the ones which make the headlines, Mrs Donovan said that the primary causes of accidents came from quad bike crashes, problems with the roofs of barns and the usual slips, trips and falls which can occur at any workplace.

Mrs Donovan, who lives in Ripon and has been involved in Yorkshire business throughout her career, said: "The two biggest groups are the over 55s and teenagers. The over 55s group tend to be hill farmers and self-employed.

"Teenagers involved in accidents tend to have parents who are aged 35-45 who are on the farm to live, not there as workers. It tends to be accidents that have occurred when, for example, they are bringing the cows in after they have done their homework. These are when there are really big risks."

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The HSE is currently running the Make the Promise campaign to encourage farmers to take extra care on their farms and to think ahead to avoid accidents.

The campaign has been supported by major UK farming organisations and has already attracted some 20,000 supporters. However Mrs Donovan said she was under no illusions as to the scope of the task.

"Farming is unhappily, one of the few industries where there is a chance you could kill someone in your family," she said.

"Many farmers do not see the farm as a workplace."

The campaign has been seeking to get its message out by having a strong presence at agricultural shows and auction marts - with practical demonstrations of how easily things can go wrong.

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Mrs Donovan said: "It is about making a promise to yourself, your family and your land.

"It is about thinking ahead. I would say to any farmer going out to work on their own just to take 10 seconds to think about what they are doing and how they can be as safe as they can while doing it.

"Part of this will be telling people where they are going. Searching through fields can take more than half an hour which is vital time.

"Another huge issue is that of mobile phone signal. We have scenarios where people have tried to phone for help but cannot."

For more information on the Make the Promise campaign visit www.hse. gov.uk/makethepromise.

CW 10/4/10