Farmers are being encouraged to attend free regional training events to get to grips with health and safety in one of Britain’s most dangerous industries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is encouraging more farmers to attend the events, the next of which is at Ulverston auction mart this Thursday (6th October). image expired

Around 8,000 free places are being made available at Safety and Health Awareness Days (SHADs) across the country, with the aim of addressing agriculture’s health and safety record, which figures from the Department for Work and Pensions and HSE released in June and July show is still in need of improvement. Commenting on the DWP findings in June this year, Lord Freud said, “The industry’s health and safety performance has been and continues to be poor.”

However, having organised a series of SHADs last year, 95 per cent of the 1,300 farmers surveyed after attending one of the HSE events said they would recommend them to others. Around three quarters also said the events had greatly increased their understanding of the potential causes of accidents and the actions they could take to prevent deaths and injuries.

HSE figures show that an average of between 40 and 50 workers are killed on British farms every year, despite less than 1.5 percent of the population working in the industry. Along with the waste and recycling industry, agriculture and forestry has the highest rate of accidents of any industry in the UK.

Practical demonstrations at SHADs focus on workplace transport, machine safety, working at height, handling livestock, safe lifting, and working with chemicals.

Peter Hamer, an HSE Inspector specialising in agriculture in Cumbria, said, "Many farmers are self-employed or run small family businesses so we want to make sure they’re not putting themselves and their livelihoods at risk with poor health and safety. We’ll be offering simple tips that won’t cost a lot to put into practice and could even help to boost productivity. The free events are also an opportunity to catch up with other local farmers and share industry knowledge.

"It’s an alarming statistic that farmers are ten times more likely than most workers to be killed while at work. I’d encourage them to give up half a day of their time to come along."

A list of upcoming Safety and Health Awareness Days taking place across the UK is available here.