Farm vehicle safety survey launched after spate of incidents
© Andrew Prosser/Adobe Stock The Health and Safety Executive has launched a new survey to gain the views of farmers and agricultural workers on vehicle safety.
Transport and machinery incidents have been ranked as a leading cause of death and serious injury within agriculture.Â
The research comes ahead of a wider Health and Safety Executive (HSE) campaign on vehicle safety, which is due to be launched in March.
See also: Farm sector records highest workplace injury rate
The most recent data shows there were 25 fatal injuries in agriculture in the 12 months ending March 2022, 14 of which related to vehicles and machinery.
Number of incidents
In the past week alone, Farmers Weekly has reported on a number of incidents highlighting the risk of working with vehicles.
These include a Devon farmer fined £8,000 after a dumper truck accident, a Scottish farmer jailed for causing a serious road incident, a Welsh farmer killed in an on-farm accident, and parents calling for tougher farm safety rules following their son’s death while servicing a tractor.
Working under vehicles can also pose a significant threat and 21 workers have suffered fatal injuries while carrying out work under vehicles in the UK during the past five years.