Make your safety pledge

It asks farmers to choose one (or more) actions from a suggested list, which they agree to implement as soon as they can. This ranges from having regular health and safety meetings with staff, to checking ladders are safe and machinery guards are fitted, to making sure everyone has a helmet for use on quad bikes, that safe livestock handling systems are in place and emergency contacts are up to date.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) farming is one of the most dangerous industries to work in. In its 2019/20 report, the HSE recorded 12,000 non-fatal injuries and 21 fatalities amongst agricultural workers.

The regional board decided to begin the campaign after hearing that during 2021 the HSE figures have shown no improvement and the industry still suffers far too many preventable accidents leading to serious injury or death.

Regional board chairman Mark Weekes (pictured above with Neil Parish MP), who himself undertook to regularly check trailer brakes, said: “As busy farmers ourselves, we know how tempting it can be sometimes to either take a shortcut because you need to get a job done, or put off doing that safety check or inspection because other work seems more urgent. But we owe it to ourselves, our farm workers and our families to do everything we can to make sure we come home safe.

“We also hope this campaign will be a reminder that looking after your safety need not necessarily be particularly expensive or time consuming, but it is something that, as an industry, we need to make a priority and have at the forefront of everything we do, as we have to face the fact that our safety record is not good.”

Farmers are asked to write their safety pledge on a reminder card which is available to download and will be available at NFU meetings. The card can then be affixed to a farm noticeboard as a reminder of the safety action to be taken.