Farm Safety Week (19 – 23 July) will encourage the agricultural community to plan ahead, slow down and stop taking risks as harvest season approaches.
Farming has the poorest safety record of any occupation in the UK and Ireland. Since April, more than 12 people have been killed in farming accidents in the UK.
Latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that in the year to 31 March 2021, there were 34 fatalities on UK farms, 13 more than the previous year.
Advice from Farm Safety Foundation, also known as Yellow Wellies, comes ahead of one of farming’s busiest times of the year.
Farmers and farmworkers work longer hours during harvest, more casual labour is used, along with the increased operation of machinery, which can all be risk factors for serious injury or fatalities.
Stephanie Berkeley, manager of the Farm Safety Foundation said: “A farm incident – whether fatal or causing serious trauma – can have an awful, potentially, lifelong consequences for a business, not to mention a family.”