Farmers must put safety ahead of finance

Research offers insight into what drives farmers to take chances

New research from Aberdeen University confirms what many farmers already know – they take risks because they put financial implications ahead of their own safety.

However, the findings suggest farmers might be more likely to reassess a risk if it is presented in terms of financial impact.

As many as three fatal farm accidents are reported in the UK every month. There has been little improvement in the statistics over 25 years, despite changes in the health and safety culture.

These figures prompted industrial psychology researcher Dr Amy Irwin to investigate the different types of risk that farmers deal with on a daily basis, in order to understand how they approach risk, what drives it and how safety can be improved.

She said: “Farmers are a unique group of workers in that they often grow up, and learn how to manage tasks, on a farm. Farming is a high-risk occupation that involves long hours, weatherdependent tasks, a lot of lone working and management of multiple competing demands.”

The 148 farmers recruited to her study from across the UK to her study were presented with different types of risky scenario and asked to indicate whether they would work on despite the risk.

The results showed that farmers reacted differently according to the characteristics of the risk.

In the case of faulty equipment – such as an unexplained leak – they would generally not go ahead, not because of reasons related to personal safety, but due to the risk of damaging expensive equipment

However, in a stress scenario, Dr Irwin found most of the participants would go ahead as farmers did not regard stress as a reason to stop work.

NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick said: “So many accidents that happen on farms occur because a farmer is rushing, not wanting to waste money, or is just not putting their safety and wellbeing as a priority.

“My advice to farmers when it comes to safety would be to stop, take a breath, and think about what the safest way to do a job is. It may not always be the quickest or the cheapest, but in the long run it will be the best.”

The findings are published in the Journal of Agromedicine.

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