Farmers in peril as experts blame longer hours during the pandemic

Deaths and life-threatening accidents on farms have climbed during the pandemic, according to Health and Safety officials.

Fatalities in agriculture almost doubled in a year as farmers worked long hours. Deaths rose from 20 to 34 farm workers in Britain with five in Scotland last year and a further 12,000 accidents happened over the same period.

Seven members of the public also died on farmland, five killed by cattle. Two were children killed in farm accidents. It was the highest number of deaths recorded in the last five years, says the Health and Safety Executive. The accidents have telltale signs of exhaustion in a workforce under great pressure to put food on the nation’s tables, according to the Farm Safety Foundation.

Farm workers were killed by moving vehicles, animals, machinery, equipment, or falls from heights.

Stephanie Berkeley, manager of the Farm Safety Foundation, said: “The profit margins for farmers often mean that they cannot afford to employ others and so often work on their own under huge pressure.

“Their days are up to 15 hours long, often seven days a week, because of the constant demand from livestock and farm maintenance.

“Others have to take on an extra job outside to pay the bills. I honestly cannot remember a time when farmers were under greater pressure. Our recent research showed that almost seven in 10 identified tiredness as a major risk with most having taken or seen others take short-cuts. They have little time for rest or time out. Farming is by far our most dangerous industry but because the UK only produces around 60% of its own food the pressure is on farmers to increase it.”

Adrian Hodkinson, acting head of agriculture at the HSE, said producing high-quality British food seemed to come at a significant human cost.

“We need everyone to play their part to improve their behaviour, do things the right way and ‘call out’ poor practices,” he said. “Agriculture will continue to be a priority sector for the HSE.”

Farming now has the worst worker fatality injury rate at around 20 times higher than all industries.

The most recent death in Scotland was last month when a man died in a fall at a farm in Angus.

Three of the fatalities on Scottish farms last year involved quad bikes used by farmers. Another farmer was killed by a bull and the fifth died from burns.

Aberdeen University studies reveal that only one in three farmers regularly wear safety helmets on quadbikes. They told researchers Amy Irwin and Jana Mihulkova that they were too busy or forgot to wear them.

The researchers have teamed up with industry partners to develop a safety training course using techniques borrowed from the training of air crews and off-shore workers.