Risk assessment key to safer farms

Irecently gave a presentation to a group of farmers in relation to the recording of accidents and incidents on farms and their obligations under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. I was asked whether there had been a general pattern of decline in terms of the number of accidents occurring on farms. My curiosity dictated that I must find out.

The earliest consistent data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is from 1986. In the following five years there was an average of 1,780 reported non-fatal injuries to workers and an average of 49 fatalities per year.

Comparing this to the last five years, from 2012- 2017, there were 881 non-fatal injuries to workers and 29 fatalities. On the face of it, it does look like there has been a reduction in the number of people being injured or killed in the agricultural, forestry and fishing industry.

However, with mechanisation there has been a significant reduction in the number of people working in the industry and the HSE helpfully provide the rate of non-fatal injuries and fatal injuries per 100,000 workers in the industry.

For the period 1986-1991, there was an average of 604 non-fatal injuries and nine fatalities per 100,000 workers each year.

Over the last five years there was an average of 529 non-fatal injuries and eight fatal injuries per 100,000 workers each year. That is a reduction of 13% in injuries and a reduction of 12% in fatalities per year.

These are more sobering statistics. The reduction in both is so small that it doesn’t give a particularly confident result in an overall reduction of fatalities at all.

We can compare these figures with the construction industry which is also known to be a dangerous industry.

Using the same time periods, the construction industry has reduced the rate of fatal injuries per 100,000 workers from eight to two and the rate of non-fatal injuries from 1,930 to 411 per 100,000 workers.

This equates to a reduction of more than 75% in the number of reportable injuries and fatalities occurring per year in that industry since the late 1980s.

The farming, forestry and fishing industry has not experienced a similar reduction in the number of reportable injuries and fatalities since consistent reporting began. Why?

Farmers lack the resources that the big construction companies have and the majority of farming enterprises run at a small to medium- size enterprise level. They do not have the cash to employ health and safety specialists and to spend on health and safety initiatives.

However, farmers cannot ignore their health and safety duties and responsibilities. The thrust of the presentation I gave focused on the importance of recording accidents and incidents (near misses).

I discussed Herbert Heinrich’s theory that in a workplace, for every 300 near misses that cause no injuries, there are 29 accidents that cause minor injuries and one accident that causes a major injury.

My theory is, if farmers know what accidents and incidents are occurring, they can take targeted action to reduce the behaviour or the circumstances that allow those incidents to occur.

If you can reduce the number of near misses, there should be a proportional decrease in the number of minor injuries and it may reduce the likelihood of a major injury occurring.

Proper recording of incidents and accidents provides an easy way for farmers to get an insight into the risks that present on the farm.

Risk assessment is the foundation of health and safety law, and if farming activities are properly risk-assessed and suitable and sufficient controls put in place to reduce those risks, we can finally start to make some headway towards reducing the number of reportable injuries and fatalities occurring in the farming industry each year.

Stuart Mackie is a senior solicitor with Thorntons Law LLP.