Farm Safety Week

With COVID-19 affecting all sectors, farm-working circumstances may be a little unusual this year, increasing likeliness of accidents happening. Children on farm are particularly at risk and precautions should be taken to ensure they are never left unattended; Temporary seasonal staff should always be trained and educated accordingly before undertaking tasks on farm; Coronavirus requires extra health and safety measures be taken, such as social distancing and regular hand washing.

The above risks do not stand alone, however, even the most experienced farmers and agricultural workers should still be vigilant and refresh their risk assessments and safety checking regularly. High risk tasks include (but are not limited to) working at height, in grain stores, with machinery, with livestock and with slurry. 

Although farm safety training has been particularly limited due to COVID-19 restrictions, there is a plethora of useful resources and information online. See some useful links below for more information:

• Yellow Wellies
• SAFE Acronym
• Farm Safety Partnership
• Preventing Accidents to Children on Farms
• The Countryside Code
• Landowner Responsibilities 
• Advice for Livestock Keepers
• Working near Powerlines
• Public Safety on Harvesting Sites
• Pre-Harvest Checklist