This week is Farm Safety Week (16-20 July). Follow #FarmSafetyWeek for practical advice and guidance. Here are their top tips for staying safe on the farm.
Top Tips for Staying Safe on the Farm
- You can’t work safely unless you know how to – make sure someone experienced shows you what to do or that you have been properly trained.
- Being hit by a moving vehicle, driven or runaway, is the biggest cause of fatalities. Keep pedestrians and vehicles apart if possible, ensure handbrakes are well maintained and follow ‘safe stop’ procedures (leave the gear in neutral, put on the handbrake and take out the key).
- Roofs are often fragile, even if they don’t look it. Falls from roofs cause several deaths every year. Treat all roofs as fragile and use equipment such as harnesses, coverings and guard rails.
- Riding a quad bike is not the same as riding a motorbike. Make sure that you are trained in the correct techniques and wear a helmet, as most injuries are sustained to the head.
- Livestock can be unpredictable even when you know them well. Using the right equipment and following safe working practices is better than trusting in the good nature of a bull or a cow and calf.
- Don’t forget overhead power lines – many accidents happen because people drive underneath power lines, forgetting that they are working with equipment raised.
- Slurry, effluent and moist grain stores are confined spaces and can all contain high levels of toxic gases – sometimes causing the death of a rescuer as well. You should never enter them unless you have made sure it is safe.
