COMPLIANCE – OFF-ROAD AGRICULTURAL VEHICLES
Industry bodies are pushing ‘best practice’ to improve
health and safety on farms. So, what are the issues for
o -road agricultural vehicles and machinery and what
safety checks should operators carry out?
Ploughing
forward with safety
Farming is the UK’s most
By Kevin Swallow
dangerous industry when it
comes to sustaining injuries
and fatalities. Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) H gures show
that 17,000 workers su ered from
injuries in agriculture, forestry and H shing
in 2017/18, with 52% being related to
muscle and/or skeletal damage. During
that same period, there were 29 fatal
injuries, which equates to 8.44 per
100,000 workers. It is higher than any
other industry sector, and around H ve
times more than construction. Nearly
half the workers killed were over 65;
another quarter were 60-65. Thirteen of
those deaths involved moving vehicles,
machinery and equipment.
Rick Brunt has just been appointed
HSE’s head of operational strategy,
after more than H ve years as the head of
vulnerable workers, agriculture, waste
and recycling. He oversaw an initiative
that warned farmers that they must pay
closer attention to how they manage
workplace risk or face serious penalties
at the start of 2019.
“We are seeing signs of a change in
attitude across the farming industry
and, while this is encouraging, these
inspections act as a reminder to farmers
of the importance of managing risks so
that everyone can go home from their
work healthy,” he explains. “Everyone
involved in farming has a role to play.
Those working in the industry need
to understand the risks they face and
the simple ways they can be managed.
Farmers, managers and workers are
reminded that death, injuries and cases
of ill health are not an inevitable part of
farming.”
Already this year, a farming
partnership in Devon pleaded guilty
to breaching the Health and Safety at
Work Act 1974 after a nine-year-old
boy su ered a serious leg injury while
travelling as a passenger on an allterrain
vehicle (ATV) on farmland driven
by a 13-year-old. The ATV rolled over,
trapping his leg between the ground
and the roll-over protection bars. An
HSE investigation found the most
likely cause of the overturn was the
inexperience and age of the driver, who
had received no formal training. The
manufacturer’s instructions and signage
on the machine made it absolutely clear
it was not suitable for use by under 16’s
and that children should not be carried
as passengers, but this was ignored, says
HSE inspector Emma O’Hara.
YOUNG & OLD
Andy Newbold (inset, right) is a
former president of the Institution of
Agricultural Engineers. He says those
that are killed in farming “predominately
fall into two groups: the very young, who
10 www.operationsengineer.org.uk May 2019
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk