Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Agriculture
Welcome to the third edition of HSE’s Agriculture E-bulletin.
The aim of the E-bulletin is to provide you with a free regular update of news and information from the Health & Safety Executive, keeping you informed of the latest issues affecting agriculture and it’s associated industries.
Below, you will find brief information on a number of topics or issues, each linking to more detailed articles on our website – simply click on the article’s title to read the full text.
Thank you to those of you who provided feedback on the first edition – we have tried to incorporate as many of the suggestions as possible.
We plan on issuing further E-bulletin’s on a quarterly basis and would also welcome any suggestions / contributions for future articles.
This new suite of Certificates in Health and Safety, designed specifically for farmers and growers, has been developed to help address the issues and make the sector a safer environment in which to live and work. The initiative has the full backing of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who have identified education, skills and competences in agriculture and horticulture as a priority area for improvement. The qualifications have been developed in partnership with the HSE, the Transport and General Workers Union and the National Farmers Union. They have further benefited from assistance and guidance from Lantra Sector Skills Council, the Employment National Training Organisation (ENTO), the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and awarding bodies for qualifications in the land-based sector.
Child fatalities and major accidents have significantly increased this year. So what’s going on? In a forthcoming “Farmers’ Weekly” article David Cousins will be considering the interface between hardship in farming families and the increase in the number of accidents to children.
The new Code of Practice for using plant protection products is now available to download free on PSD's website.
This Code of Practice is for all professional users of plant protection products in England and Wales in respect of Part III of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 (FEPA) and the regulations controlling pesticides, particularly plant protection products, under that part of the Act.
It replaces three previous codes of practice from 15 December 2005: (i) the Code of Practice for the Safe Use of Pesticides on Farms and Small Holdings ("the Green Code"); (ii) the Code of Practice for the use of Approved pesticides in Amenity Areas and Industrial Areas ("the Orange Code") a voluntary code produced by the National Association of Agricultural Contractors and the British Agrochemical Association; (iii) those parts of the Code of Practice for the safe use of Pesticides for Non-Agricultural Purposes - The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999 ("the Blue Code") which deal with forestry.
Welcome to the third edition of Arb News – a newsletter for those working in the arboriculture industry. Copies of previous editions can also be found by following this link.
The explosion of the internet and access to goods and markets worldwide is certainly a bonus for discerning customers – but the less initiated need to beware!! HSE is currently investigating an instance of a dangerous agricultural machine recently sold on Ebay UK.
Click on the above title to access HSE’s suite of free guidance covering a wide-range of agriculture health and safety topics and issues.
