Fatal accidents on farms worse than other industries

Thinking it over with Carol Fish Director & Head of Serious and Catastrophic Injury …

WE have farmers to thank for the work they do with their livestock, crops and also in many parts of Cumbria and Northumberland for helping make our world-renowned landscapes look so magnificent.

But what the visitor, or even resident, sees is often only the picture postcard view of what real life on the farm is all about.

Farms are dangerous places. The mix of machinery, chemicals, vehicles and livestock can be a perilous combination.

At all times of year – recently it’s been harvest time – there’s a lot going on, with movement of tractors, and equipment, as well as livestock. It can be an accident waiting to happen.

Figures published in the Health and Safety Executive’s report Fatal injuries in agriculture, forestry and fishing in Great Britain show 21 people were killed as a result of farming and other agriculture-related activities during the year 2019/20.

Transport – overturning vehicles or being struck by moving vehicles – caused most deaths.

Agriculture also has the worst rate of worker fatal injury (per 100,000) of the main industrial sectors. It is 18 times as high as the average rate across all industries.

Around half of the agricultural workers killed were 55 years or older. The youngest person killed was a four-year-old child.

Farms are often family businesses. And that can bring its own dangers.

Children, for example, can have grown up around machinery and vehicles and sometimes attempt tasks on a farm which might on the surface seem fine, but as soon as something starts to go wrong they might not have the experience or capability to deal with the situation and that’s when accidents can happen.

Farms can also be an attraction to young children. I myself grew up building dens in hay bales. But because of the potential for serious, and even fatal, accidents on a farm, we should treat them just as we would any building site or industrial setting, and see them as a high risk area.

Adults who work on a farm all the time can also become complacent because they might do a task so often that they forget to carry out the required safety checks.

Farmers tend to try to fix things themselves, and won’t think twice about climbing a ladder to repair a roof. Or they are under time pressure, and know that they shouldn’t operate a tractor outside the cab, but do it anyway to save time. Unlike in a different business where they would have a health and safety representative to advise them, they are putting themselves at risk of serious, or even fatal, injury.

Like any business, farm owners as employers are also responsible for the training and health and safety of all their employees, often casual workers, and also for the safety, maintenance and insurance of all their machinery and vehicles.

Here at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors we have a large number of farming clients all across Cumbria and Northumberland and beyond and have huge experience with dealing with all aspects of agricultural life.

Our agriculture team have been recognised by the industry as experts in their field.

I have experience of dealing with farm accidents involving serious, or fatal, injury and as an expert advisor am here to help.

Accidents on family farms often cause added distress because of the strain it puts on families – with family members having the right to sue other family members just as in any other business and the emotional fall out of causing injury to a relative or loved one. As in all such circumstances, I am always only a phone call away.

To contact Carol please call 01228 516666