NFU Vice President David Exwood says that making a pledge during Farm Safety Week to upskill everyone’s safety training in a farm business will go a long way to improve safety on farms, which needs to be a top priority for everyone.
He said: “As an industry we are constantly learning, from each other and through innovation, and we need to ensure this mentality is applied to health and safety.
“Pledging to upskill ourselves, either through repeat or new training, is a simple and cost-effective way to increase awareness and better identify and manage risks on farm. By investing in ourselves and our learning, we are actually investing in our farm businesses as we are our most valuable asset, so safety has to be a top priority.
“At the NFU we have been working with land-based training organisation, Lantra, to create a new e-learning course, developed with advice from the HSE. It offers reminders about the risks we all face on farm, including working at height or with cattle, and provides practical safety advice, including remembering to engage the brake when using a farm vehicle and wearing a helmet when riding on an ATV.
“We are about to embark on the busiest time of year in farming – harvest – and we must remember farm safety best practice. On my farm, we have just started combining and I will be ensuring that all workers take sufficient rest breaks and wear high visibility clothing.
“On the 10th annual #FarmSafetyWeek let’s work together to encourage each other to improve agriculture’s safety performance and ensure that no more unnecessary accidents take place. We can use this week to take action, such as pledging to upskill ourselves, to ensure our businesses and ultimately ourselves are protected.”
More information
- The NFU is supporting the important campaign, run by the Farm Safety Foundation and now in its 10th year, which this year is focusing on the achievements that have been made over the past decade and highlighting the continued changes we can all make to reducing accidents on farm
- Farm Safety Week is run by the Farm Safety Foundation. More information here.
- Use the hashtags #FarmSafetyWeek to join the conversation on social media.
- For more ideas and guidance visit the NFU’s farm safety hub.
- NFU members can access the farm safety course developed with Lantra and HSE with a 10% discount on NFU online.