The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Work: Reminder as agriculture still rated most dangerous job in Britain
Farming leaders have issued a renewed plea to the industry to make safety a priority.
The Farm Safety Partnership Scotland (FSPS) acknowledges many farmers think they are “teaching them how to suck eggs”, yet agriculture continues to be the most dangerous occupation in the country, with five deaths in Scotland and 33 across the UK last year.
The deaths in Scotland included a 49-year-old farm worker who was crushed beneath a tractor trailer as he carried out repairs. When the trailer collapsed and fell onto him he died from crush injuries.
More recently a father-ofthree died after becoming trapped in a baler.
FSPS chairman Scott Walker, who is also chief executive of NFU Scotland, called on farmers to make a “conscious decision” about their safety.
“There are standard measures we would encourage anyone to make when carrying out maintenance with machines, principally the ‘safe stop’ procedure,” said Mr Walker.
“In addition to this, you should ensure workers are properly trained, safe working practices are devised and executed, and all movement has stopped before removing any guards.
“There is a host of advice for safe working practices available on the Health and Safety Executive’s website, and I would ask everyone to take five minutes to read this guidance as it may stop and make you think about what you’re doing and help to prevent injury or death.”
Farm contractor Robert Hamilton, from Strathaven, described how he lost his hand while doing maintenance on a rear discharge spreader on a Terra-gator, despite having done the same work since his early teens.
He said: “I noticed a grease pipe on auto lube was leaking. I wiped grease off the pipe next to the floor slat. About 10 minutes later I did exactly the same thing again. However, this time my hand got trapped in the floor slat and the front roller. I knew that the only way I could survive this was for my hand to come off between the forearm and wrist. It felt like slow motion.”
Mr Hamilton describes himself as “lucky” as the accident could have been worse, and says he and his employees are now more aware of health and safety. A review into the way farm subsidy funding is allocated across the UK has been met with critcism by Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing.
The review, announced yesterday by Defra Secretary Michael Gove, had been requested following a dispute over the way extra funds, known as convergence uplift, were distributed in the UK.
The funds were awarded to bring Scotland’s per hectare subsidy average up. The Scottish Government claims the UK Government has robbed farmers of £160 million by not passing this cash north of the border. However, the review will not revist this decision.
Mr Ewing said: “The only reason the UK, as the member state, qualified for an uplift is because of Scotland – therefore, the only fair funding solution for Scottish farmers and crofters is for them to receive the £160m in convergence funding due to them. Anything less than this is completely unacceptable.”