Farm deaths dropped in 2004/5 – but not by much

FEWER PEOPLE were killed on farms in 2004/5 than in 2003/4, according to latest Health and Safety Executive statistics.

But the news is not as good as it sounds, because the 2003/4 figure included the 21 cockle-pickers who lost their lives at Morecambe Bay in Feb 2004.

This means that despite this year’s drop – from 44 to 42 – the 2004/5 figure is actually 17% higher than two year’s ago.

The rate of fatal injury to workers in agriculture in 2004/5 stands at 10.45 deaths per hundred thousand workers.