Farm Safety Week (17-21 July 2023) is an annual campaign which focuses on raising awareness and changing attitudes to prevent life-changing injuries.
The latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (“HSE”) for 2022/2023 show that 21 workers in the agriculture, fishing and forestry sector were involved in fatal accidents. Whist this figure is lower than the 5-year average of 31, it is still alarmingly high.
Unsurprisingly, the statistics provided by the HSE continue to show that one of the most dangerous working sectors is agriculture, forestry and fishing, and it has the worst rate of fatal injury to workers of all the main industry sectors.
Some of the main causes of fatal injury include:
- Being injured by an animal.
- Falling from height.
- Contact with machinery.
Every employee has the right to work in a safe and healthy environment and employers’ have a duty of care to do whatever is reasonably practicable to make the workplace safe.
If an employer fails in their duty of care and an employee suffers injury, loss and damage as a result of an accident at work, then the employer can be held legally liable as a result of their negligence.
Cases where we have helped:
- Being injured by an animal: The Claimant was working with cattle and there was a failure to provide a safe system of work by the employer which resulted in injury caused by an animal.
- A fall from height: A farm worker fell whilst constructing a fabricated building. There was a failure to follow a risk assessment and provide safe and competent employees.
- Contact with machinery: The Claimant did not receive adequate training on how to use machinery and was left unsupervised and without protective clothing. When feeding wood through an edging machine, the wood shot back and penetrated the Claimant’s finger.
If you have suffered an injury at work and wish to enquire about bringing a personal injury claim, please get in touch either by telephone, email or by using our online smart form to tell us about your accident.
To find out more about Farm Safety Week and the NFU’s ‘Take 5 to Stay Alive’ campaign which encourages those working in farming to take a 5-minute pause and think about the task in front of them, please click here.