Agriculture has been identified by the HSE as a priority industry as along with the Construction industry it has one of the worst fatal accident records of any industry.

Key issues

HSE has found from proactive workplace inspection, accident investigation and the results of recent social science research that the key issues to address are:

• a deep-seated culture of unwise risk-taking in the industry;
•  that many farmers are resistant to officialdom and feel that the industry is unduly burdened by regulation and red tape (derived from Government Departments as a whole, not just from HSE); and that
• health and safety is not yet universally regarded as integral to good farm business management.
• Fatal accidents in agriculture

455 people have died in needless accidents on British farms in the last 10 years. Taken from HSE stats dept March 2011

The main causes of death to workers continue to be:

•  transport (being run over or vehicle overturns)
• falling from a height (through fragile roofs, trees etc) 
• struck by moving or falling objects (bales, trees etc) 
•  asphyxiation / drowning
•  trapped by something collapsing or overturning
•  Contact with machinery 
• livestock related fatalities 
• contact with electricity

We have tried to represent issues, regulations and guidance in a way which will be clear and easy to follow.

Should you have any additional queries, remember you can always 'Ask the Expert'