Eight deaths on Scots farms in 99
23 June 2000
Eight deaths on Scots farms in ’99
By FWi staff
EIGHT people were killed in farm-related accidents in Scotland last year, health and safety officials said on Thursday (22 June).
Four of the fatalities involved animals, said David Mattey of the Health and Safety Executive.
He said: Livestock handling remains an activity where particular skill and understanding is critical in anticipating behaviour and avoiding injury.
The other four deaths involved a tractor accident, a fall through a roof, and a worker crushed by a falling tree and a 14-year-old killed in a barn fire.
The boy was killed when a shed of straw bales caught fire. Other children had been seen igniting small fires and then putting them out again.
A farm worker was aware that children had played near the building before but there was no indication they had been in the straw storage area.
Mr Mattey there was no significant trend in the age of the people killed in the eight fatalities. The age ranged from 14 to 84 years, he added.
Mr Mattey said: The message for all in the industry is clear: farm accidents dont just kill the inexperienced.
The deaths are two fewer than last year but bring the total number of people killed in Scottish agriculture to 102 over the last ten years, he added.
Clearly the reduction in the number of people killed in agriculture is to be welcomed but we need to be satisfied [it is a] long term reduction.
Accident statistics for England and Wales will be released at the Royal Show and Royal Welsh Show respectively next month.