About health and safety in agriculture

Agriculture has one of the worst fatal accident and occupational ill-health records of any major employment sector.

Fewer than 1.5% of the working population are employed in agriculture yet the sector is responsible for between 15% and 20% of fatalities to workers each year. The industry also has a rate of self-reported illness which is typically higher than the average for all industries.

• Fatal accidents in agriculture
• The accident and occupational ill health record in agriculture
• The self-employed in agriculture: a special challenge

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Fatal accidents in agriculture

The fatal injury incidence rate is the highest of the main industrial sectors, including construction. In 2010/11(p), there were 42 fatalities reported, which is consistent with the agriculture average over the past five years. 

The provisional fatal injury rate in agriculture for 2010/11 was 8.0 deaths per 100,000 workers. This compares to a rate of 9.6 when an average of the previous five years is examined – the highest of any industrial sector. Included in the definition of agriculture is horticulture, forestry and other related industries. In mainstream agriculture the area for particular concern is the self-employed.

In the ten-year period from 1999/2000 to 2008/09 a total of 436 people have been killed as a result of agricultural work activities and many more have been injured or suffered ill health.

This means an average of 43 people each year are killed in the industry – almost one death per week!

Of the 436 people killed over the past ten years:

• 140 were employees (32%)
• 245 were self-employed (56%)
• 51 were members of the public, (12%) of which
• 19 of these were children under the age of 16 years old

The main causes of death to workers continue to be:

• transport (being run over or vehicle overturns) - accounting for 26% of fatalities
• falling from a height (through fragile roofs, trees etc) - 16%
• struck by moving or falling objects (bales, trees etc) - 16%
• asphyxiation/drowning - 10%
• livestock-related fatalities - 10%
• contact with machinery - 8%
• trapped by something collapsing or overturning - 6%
• contact with electricity - 3%

For more details on fatal and non-fatal accidents in the industry see the latest version of the 'Fatal Injuries in farming, forestry and horticulture' report.

• More health and safety statistics

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The accident and occupational ill health record in agriculture

Non-fatal injury

Non-fatal injury data is subject to gross under-reporting, making analysis of data and comparisons difficult – it is estimated that 25% of injuries to employees in the sector are reported and only 5% for the self-employed. 

Despite the limitations in the data, the rate of reported major injury in agriculture is one of the highest rates of the industry sectors. In 2009/10, there were 242.1 major injuries per 100,000 employees in agriculture compared to 203.1 in 2008/09¹. This rate is twice that of the all-industries rate (101.5 per 100,000) and similar to the construction sector major injury rates.

Ill health

The data available on the industry’s occupational health record suggests that the incidence of work-related illness is of a similar order to that for all industries. Although the data is again obscured by under-reporting, the ill-health conditions to which workers are exposed include:

• zoonotic infections
• musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
• hand-arm vibration (HAV), vibration white finger (VWF) and whole-body vibration (WBV)
• respiratory disease (especially upper respiratory tract infections from exposure to organic dusts)

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The self-employed in agriculture: a special challenge

Farming is characterised by a high proportion of self-employment and largely family-based farms. Employment data is neither robust nor reliable, but approximately 500,000 people are estimated to be employed in traditional farming and up to 250,000 in the wider land-based industry sectors.

The self-employed proportion of the workforce has steadily increased as overall workforce numbers have declined. The industry is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly micro businesses, with few formal management structures.

The analysis of fatal accidents in the agriculture sector over the period 1999–2009² showed that 56% of total fatal accidents occurred to self-employed workers. Of these, 22% occurred to those aged 65 or above, reflecting a characteristic of the sector where those over 65 continue to work or remain involved in the running of farms. There is also a continuing high rate of fatal accidents involving members of the public compared with other sectors.

Major difficulties remain if sustainable health and safety improvements are to be achieved in agriculture.

Fatal incidents, non-fatal injuries and ill health occur in the industry for a range of reasons, including:

• structural factors - such as the prevalence of small, micro and family businesses, self-employment, an ageing workforce, increasing contractorisation of services, the employment of migrant/casual/transitory workers and widespread public access to agricultural land etc
• economic/financial factors - such as low productivity, marginal (and squeezed) returns, low income, access to viable investment funding, low investment etc
• technical/technological factors - such as working in natural technologically hazardous environments, with livestock, the extensive use of workplace transport on farm and on road, poor and obsolete design practices and inadequate or poor maintenance etc 
• behavioural/cultural factors - such as a deep-seated culture of resourcefulness, unwise risk taking and unsafe practices, resistance to officialdom, a widespread belief that regulation and red tape are a burden (in respect of government as a whole, not just HSE), acceptance of poor outcomes linked to the inherently hazardous and pressured environment etc. (Linked with all the strategic goals and objectives associated with 'Leadership', 'Competence' and 'SMEs'.)
• environmental factors - such as time (daylight hours) and weather pressures, the unpredictability and dangers of livestock etc
• inadequate training and competency, particularly in the middle-aged and elderly sections of the farming community
• poor management - whereby health and safety management skills and health and safety are not valued and health and safety is not widely regarded as integral to good farm business management
• an historic lack of leadership in the industry on health and safety

There are no simple solutions to these complex issues. Significant changes in individuals' behaviour - supported by fundamental cultural change in the industry as a whole - are required.