Health and safety during harvest time

Agriculture is the most dangerous industry to work in, closely followed by the waste industry. Figures published in the Health and Safety Executive’s report ‘Fatal injuries in agriculture, forestry and fishing in Great Britain 2018/19’ show 39 people were killed as a result of farming and other agriculture-related activities. That meant in 2018-19, one person was killed nearly every week in farming. Half of the agricultural workers killed were over 60 and two young children were also included in these figures. These are alarming figures.

With this in mind, it is vital that we ensure both our farms and working environments are safe and our employees are trained to a high level. If we invest in our employees, we will not only be safe, but we will naturally have a well trained workforce. On top of the normal Health and Safety, we are now challenged with ensuring our workplaces are COVID 19 safe.

Sue Wilson, director of SW Training and Consultancy, has spent almost 20 years working within the waste industry – the second most dangerous industry to farming. As Sue provides Health and Safety and Environmental training and consultancy, she recognises the issues around farming. Sue also understands the pressures that farmers face, working long hours and against tight deadlines.

Sue decided to partner with AF to both educate and make the farming industry a safer place. The aim of SW Training is to take the pressures off the farming industry by helping them with their Health and Safety, Waste and Environmental requirements. SW Training is a ‘one stop shop’ solution, providing expertise in all areas, including hazardous waste disposal.

Lisa Starling, who works alongside Sue, has had many year’s experience in both arable and livestock farming and is a Chartered Health and Safety practitioner. Lisa lives on a farm and so has first-hand experience in the farming world. She understands not only the dangers of farming but the pressures farmers face too. Lisa is equipped to carry out pre-harvest inspections and audits, as well as the Health and Safety requirements regarding putting new buildings up. This is to ensure CDM regulations, Working from Height and confined spaces requirement are met.

SW Training are also a Licensed IOSH training centre and can offer training courses that are written by a World Wide recognised brand providing the best Health and Safety training as well as offering the basic training courses you have to supply as an employer such as Manual Handling, Fire Training and First Aid as well as writing bespoke packages for training each individual business requires. If you are working off a waste permit issued by the Environment Agency and you hold a WAMITAB qualification and you are due to do a refresher or you may want to sit the qualification in full then we can offer these too.

Whilst we appreciate that there is a business to run, educating your staff to the correct way of working safely will become the norm for them. In turn you will lose fewer sick days due to injury or illness. You will have a better and safer business by investing in your health and safety and employees. It is a proven fact that businesses will only work with others if they are safe and sustainable.

If you would like an no obligation chat to discuss any of the issues further, please email the Machinery team for further information.