Long hours and stress fuel farm safety crisis, survey shows

Farmers across the UK are working increasingly long hours and this is taking a dangerous toll on both safety and mental wellbeing, research released at the start of Farm Safety Week 2025 reveals.

According to the Farm Safety Foundation (aka Yellow Wellies), the average UK farmer now works 60 hours a week – well above the national average of 36.4 hours.

Alarmingly, 44% of farmers aged 41-60 report working more than 81 hours a week, with 33% of those working nine-hour days admitting they have had a near miss or accident in the past year.

See also: Improving farm safety and saving lives

The findings come from the Farm Safety Foundation’s annual tracker survey, Attitudes and Behaviour to Farm Safety and Mental Health, which polled 754 farmers in September 2024. The results have just been published.

The research draws a strong link between farm safety and mental health. A staggering 91% of farmers believe the two are directly connected.

Those with poorer mental wellbeing are significantly less likely to wear personal protective equipment, carry out risk assessments or take basic steps to work safely.

They are also more inclined to take risks, less likely to consider the consequences, and less likely to see safety as their personal responsibility.

HSE figures

The latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) confirm that 23 farmworkers were killed in work-related incidents in Great Britain in 2024-25, with five farm fatalities recorded in Northern Ireland.

The figures highlight once again that statistically, farming is the deadliest job in the UK, despite accounting for just 1% of the workforce.

Four members of the public, two of them children, also lost their lives on farms. Both of the child fatalities involved all-terrain vehicles (ATVs).

Overall, being killed by a moving or overturning vehicle was again the main cause of fatality in the industry in 2024-25.

The industry has long faced high rates of injury and ill-health.

NFU Mutual saw farm accident claims drop from 937 in 2023-24 to 894 in 2024-25. However, accidents involving vehicles, falls, slips, and trapped body parts remain common, costing the insurer more than £48m in claims last year.

Safety plea

As the 13th annual Farm Safety Week gets under way, the Farm Safety Foundation is calling for urgent cultural change, alongside investment in mental health support and improved work-life balance, to make farming safer for current and future generations.

Stephanie Berkeley, manager of the Farm Safety Foundation, warned that “complacency and outdated attitudes” continue to drive unsafe behaviours.

“We hear it far too often: ‘I’ve always done it that way.’ But experience should guide caution, not excuse it,” she said.