The latest figures from the health and Safety Executive show that there were 37 deaths on farms last year in the UK.

Of these, 33 fatal accidents involved farm workers and four were members of the public. These figures show that there has been no improvement in farm safety against the five-year average, and a significant rise in fatal accidents since 2013; the farming sector remains the most dangerous in the UK, with well over one in five workplace fatalities occurring on farms, though the sector employs less than 1 percent of the population.

Commenting on the results on Wednesday, HSE chair Judith Hackitt said, “It is disappointing last year’s performance on fatal injuries has not been matched… Every fatality is a tragic event and our commitment to preventing loss of life in the workplace remains unaltered.  All workplace fatalities drive HSE to develop even more effective interventions to reduce death, injury and ill health.”
 
Responding to the figures, the NFU urged farmers to assess risks and take action in making their farms safer for themselves and others around them.

the HSE statistics were published a week before the beginning of Farm Safety Week (6-10 July), which is part of a long-term initiative run by 48 organisations to make farms safer and raise awareness of the key areas of risk on farms.
 
On Wednesday, NFU Vice President Chairman Guy Smith said,“The stagnant nature of these figures underlines the importance of the industry working to ensure the number of fatalities in our sector falls and the NFU is playing a leading role in this.
 
“From the statistics, farming has the poorest record of any occupation in the UK. We need to take responsibility and wake up to the risks around us and do something about making our workplace safer. The Farm Safety Week tagline says it all: don’t learn safety by accident.”