The report details that farmers, workers, members of the public including a young child have all been killed on farms in 2022/23.
The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector have the worst rate of fatal injury to workers of all the main industry sectors. Those working in farming are 21 times more likely to be killed compared to all other industries.
While the number of fatal injuries to workers in the agricultural sector has fallen by around a half since the early 1980s, the rate of death per 100,000 workers hasn't dropped substantially.
The rate of death remains high in comparison with other hazardous sectors, for example; a farmer is four times more likely to be killed than someone working in construction.
A change in culture is needed if we are to 'fix' farming.
We applaud the efforts of the farm safety partnerships and other safety campaigners and organisations already pushing for a change in attitude and behaviours towards the law and guidance. The industry as a whole must support those calls for change.
Agriculture must become much more safety focussed and actively manage the risks in the workplace. The change cannot happen without your support.
The causes of fatal and serious injury remain the same year after year. We have put together this list of HSE guidance covering the main causes of workplace fatalities on farms.
These resources will help you to keep yourself, your workers, the public and your family safe:
Farmers’ children continue to be killed by farming activities - you can help to put an end to that.
Help to change the culture that exists in many parts of our industry. Children must be kept safe; away from the farm workplace and supervised.
Incidents involving vehicles are one of the top causes of deaths on farms. We’re asking farmers to consider vehicle safety in three simple areas of their daily farming activities to help keep everyone on the farm safe.
We want to show that safety on the farm doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. When you start your daily routine, follow our safe farm, safe driver, safe vehicle advice to help you plan the job and complete it safely:
- operating a Safe Farm - keep people and vehicles apart
- being a safe Driver - pause, take a moment to be a safer driver
- maintaining a safe Vehicle - detect faults now, before it’s too late
Please download our checklist for workers, share it with them and refresh your own knowledge on vehicle safety.
To find out more about the "your farm, your future" campaign, and to get resources and safety videos to use as part as your own harvest safety talks, visit our work right agriculture website.
We are calling on the entire farming industry, on every farmer, and every farming organisation to play their part in changing the culture of the industry.
Please help by sending this bulletin on to others you know in the industry and help keep them safe too. The time for change is now. Only if we all work together can we fix farming.
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