Background
Pilot
A first version of the software was piloted from September 2003 to January 2004. It was
downloadable from the agriculture section of the HSE website.
A number of farmers were invited to take part in the pilot and HSE also
used a farming website to encourage voluntary participation. During the
pilot, 120 farmers submitted their assessments to HSE and many more downloaded
and used the software.
Following the pilot, HSE commissioned some independent evaluation work
to gain the views and feedback of those who took part.
Evaluation - Part 1
The first part of this work involved telephone interviews with each of
the 120 farmers who sent their assessment to HSE. Responses to the pilot
and software showed a high level of approval. In brief summary:
- 98% of those returning the assessment to HSE thought the idea useful
or very useful as a means of completing a risk assessment for their individual
farms;
- 96% said the software covered all or most of their farming activities;
- 95% said that they would continue to use it as an ongoing management
tool for health and safety;
- 99% said that they had recommended or would recommend this software
to other farmers.
What the farmers said
- 'Overall very good. Nice to have something which is not shoved down
your throat. Well done HSE.'
- 'I actually enjoyed completing this assessment - it was practical
and directly applicable to me and what I do each day.'
- 'I printed the whole thing out then walked round the farm with it
so I had all the information with me from the benchmarks.'
- 'I have taken on health and safety responsibility for the farms
in the last year and this system targeted me on what to look into.'
- 'Excellent idea, not too long winded, we are busy people, short
and to the point. Also provokes more thought and practical solutions in
some areas.'
- 'More useful than I envisioned it was going to be. Pleasantly surprised
and interested.'
- 'This is a positive idea, it made one think. Would I have done a
full risk assessment for my farm without it? I think not.'
- 'I liked the benchmarks. They gave you something to work towards.
In fact there is no way I could have completed it without them.'
- 'I was put off by having over 100 questions until I realised I could
select for livestock and general only and even then could leave out questions
which did not apply.'
- 'I had already done a risk assessment for the farm on paper so have
now transferred this onto your system which makes it much more manageable
eg action list, deadlines etc.'
- 'Very useful. For example I printed out the action list with the
benchmarks, gave one to each employee then we had a meeting together to
discuss them.'
- 'I am not a PC expert but I found it very easy to use.' 'I
would recommend this to other farmers because the whole subject of risk
assessment is very daunting to many farmers so they never get into it.
This is easy to use and many such farmers would get on OK with it.'
Evaluation - Part 2
This concentrated on those farmers who provided their details before downloading
the software, but who either:
- did not complete the download process; or
- downloaded the software but did not make a submission to HSE.
Over 200 questionnaires were sent to this group of farmers. In brief summary,
the results showed that:
75% downloaded the software. The remaining 25% quoted a range of reasons
for not downloading or not completing the download process, including:
- download time (estimated at 15 minutes) was discouraging;
- problems downloading (poor quality internet connections in some rural
areas meant the download failed);
- it was not relevant to their work;
- their computer did not meet the minimum specification.
Of those who did download:
- almost 50% had completed an assessment but had chosen not to submit
it to HSE (submission to HSE was an optional feature but was one we had
encouraged during the pilot to gain feedback and views of the farmers);
- 50% of the farmers who had downloaded but not completed the assessment
stated that they had not yet had time to perform the assessment. Others
felt that the assessment was not relevant or would take too long;
- of those who did complete, or had part-completed the assessment, the
responses to questions on usefulness and usability largely mirrored the
findings of Part 1 of the evaluation.
Recommendations from the pilot evaluation
A number of recommendations were made by those who took part in the pilot
for improvements/enhancements to the software. Where possible these have
been incorporated into this current version and include:
- production of a CD version of the software for farmers who do not have
internet access or who do not want to download/or who experience problems
downloading;
- inclusion of all HSE's free agriculture guidance on the CD version
of the software;
- links to the guidance section of the HSE website for those who use the
download version;
- the ability to perform an assessment where more than one farm or holding
is owned/managed;
- support to farmers in the form of HSE's Infoline.
Self assessment software – Version 1
- Version 1 of the software was launched as a limited pilot in September 2003.
- It was only available as a downloadable product.
- Approx 350 farmers took part in the pilot.
- The pilot was evaluated in 2004 – see above for results of the evaluation.
Self assessment software – Version 2.2.2
- Version 2 of the software was launched in January 2005.
- 106,000 copies were included in Farmers Weekly in January 2005.
- A full version of the software (including HSE suite of agriculture guidance) was made available on CD-ROM, and another smaller version of the software (minus the guidance) was available to download from the HSE website.
Self assessment software – Version 3.2.2
- Version 3 of the software was launched in March 2008.
- The software includes a revised set of questions and updated HSE guidance.
