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Know How / Health and safety

Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries in the UK because of the high level of fatal accidents and life-changing injuries. Learn from the experiences of farmers who have been involved in an accident and read practical advice on how to make working on your farm safer.

Key areas of focus:

  • Preventing accidents such as falls from height
  • How to handle livestock safely
  • Safety around machinery
  • Slurry handling safety
  • Pesticide storage

Dying to Feed You campaign

Case studies

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Corrine's eye socket was fractured

Welsh farmer’s wife and nurse Corrine Mathias suffered a fractured eye socket after being attacked by a cow.  Watch her tell her story in the video and read the report…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Grace suffered multiple broken bones

Grace Addyman suffered multiple broken bones when she was hit by falling bales at her family farm. She tells us what happened on that day, the difficult surgery that followed…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Beca fractured skull in quad accident

Beca Glyn was herding sheep across the road on her quad bike when she had an accident. Sadly, she wasn't wearing a helmet and the impact resulted in a serious…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Mike Nixon fell 28ft through a shed roof

Mike Nixon fell through a shed roof to clean the guttering. He landed on a concrete scrape passage and sustained a serious spinal cord injury.  It began like a normal…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Rob was attacked by a cow after calving

Rob Lewis was left with a fractured spine after being attacked by a cow while feeding a calf. Here, he tells his story. It’s a day that will be etched…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: James was dragged into a potato harvester

James Bannister lost his left arm after being dragged into a potato harvester. After the trauma of being stuck inside the machine for over two hours, he was airlifted to…

Practical advice

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Advice on employers' liability, injury and H&S management

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement for any business using labour. It provides cover for legal liability for injury or illness caused to anyone working on the farm. Businesses…

HEALTH AND WELFARE

Fire risk planning - what to consider on a livestock farm

Climate change is driving livestock farmers to consider farm resilience and feed security. But it should also make them think about the increasing challenge from wildfires and the risk to…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Farm building planning: Health and safety obligations

Farmers planning a building project should check their obligations under the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE’s) Construction Design and Management (CDM) Regulations 2015. These govern the way all building projects…

BUSINESS CLINIC

Business Clinic: Can we divert a public footpath?

Whether it’s a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s Business Clinic experts can help. Here, Richie Rees, senior associate in in law firm Thrings’ dispute resolution team,…

BUSINESS

Advice on asbestos rules and responsibilities for farmers

A quarter of a century since the material was banned, asbestos-related diseases remain the greatest cause of work-related deaths in Britain, accounting for some 5,000 lives a year, according to…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Improving farm safety and saving lives

The statistics around farm fatalities and workplace injuries are truly sobering. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing had a fatal injury rate last year which was 21 times higher than the national…

Insights

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Farm safety: Is there a level playing field for women?

Farm safety has become a much-discussed topic in recent years, and with good reason. Despite numerous safety campaigns, agriculture statistically remains the nation’s most dangerous industrial occupation. What is perhaps…

SPRAYERS

Options expanded for closed-transfer sprayer filling

Serious concerns about operator and environmental safety when climbing onto sprayers to pour neat chemical into the top of tanks were raised by safety regulators as far back as the…

News

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NEWS

Poultry firm fined £50k over unguarded feeder death

A Cumbrian egg producer has been fined after a long-serving worker died when his clothing became entangled in an unguarded feeding system – a tragedy his family say could have…

COMMUNITY

Machinery event delivers stark farm safety plea

Farmers visiting the Midlands Machinery Show this week were issued a stark warning about the human cost of farm accidents. The National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC) set up two…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Arson one of leading causes of UK farm fires

Arson has emerged as a leading cause of UK farm fires, according to a new NFU Mutual report. The insurer estimates blazes destroying crops, buildings and equipment cost farmers £102m…

NEWS

Tractor death takes farming fatalities to 22 since April

A person has died after being struck by a tractor on a farm in South Lanarkshire on 30 October, marking the 22nd UK farm fatality since 1 April 2025. Jill…

Video

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to Feed You: Mike Nixon fell 28ft through a shed roof

Mike Nixon fell through a shed roof to clean the guttering. He landed on a concrete scrape passage and sustained a serious spinal cord injury.  It began like a normal…

Farmer speaks out over horror at son’s fall through roof

A farmer has warned others about the dangers of working at height after he saw his son plunge almost 20ft through a roof to a concrete floor below. Yorkshire farmer…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Dying to feed you: James said 'Mum, I've lost my arm'

James Chapman lost his left arm after his jacket was caught in a pto shaft. Read his story and watch the video. I think it was a Thursday morning. I…

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Young farmers front powerline safety campaign

Two young farmers are at the forefront of a new safety campaign urging the farming community to stay safe when working near overhead power lines. The campaign has been launched…