Safety must be a lifestyle not a slogan, says NFUS president

Farm safety is a lifestyle, not just a slogan – that is the message which needs to be driven home to the industry according to NFU Scotland president Andrew Mccornick.

Issuing a plea to the whole farming sector in the run-up to Farm Safety Week – which takes place next week, just as the industry stands at the beginning of one of the busiest periods of the year, harvest – Mccornick said that action was required across the industry to protect life and limb.

“Implementing the simplest of measures could help to save a life,” said Mccornick who, relating how he had suffered a foot injury himself earlier in the year, went on to add that trying to cut corners to get a job done in a hurry was a dangerous approach.

“In 2015-16, there were eight deaths in Scotland in the agricultural industry – but as we know even one death is one too many.

“The lasting impact on family, friends and the wider community can be devastating and we are determined to work with the industry to lower this statistic.”

The most recent figures show that across Great Britain there were 390 fatalities between 2005-6 and 2014-15. Of these, 126 (32 per cent) were employees, 210 (54 per cent) were self-employed people and 54 (14 per cent) were nonemployed people who were killed as a result of someone else’s work activity.

Of the 54 deaths to nonemployed people, 17 were children under 16.