Workplace safety and welfare

What you need to do...

The law protects the health and safety of everyone in the workplace, and to ensure that adequate welfare facilities are provided for people at work. It sets out precautions that must be taken before work in a confined space, and requires a safety sign where there is significant risk to health and safety not controlled by other methods. The key issues are:

• General workplace safety
• General workplace health
• Toilet and welfare facilities
• Confined spaces
• Fire precautions in workplaces
• Fertiliser storage
• Chemical and veterinary medicine storage
• Consider the specific risks on your farm

What you need to know...

We have covered many of the specific risks on your farm in other topics. You also need to look at the activities that take place in your workplace as a whole.

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General workplace safety

• Slips, trips and falls can happen anywhere in workplaces, such as in buildings or yards.
• Make sure no one can fall from open edges such as catwalks above grain bins or feed lofts. You must also take action if there is a risk of injury from falls into tanks, pits or onto projecting objects.
• Check working areas are free from obstructions, such as trailing cables, sacks or pallets and there is enough space for storing tools and materials.
• Keep your buildings in good repair, making sure floors are not overloaded, especially in feed lofts or older buildings.
• Remember visiting workers such as lorry drivers and vets are also at risk and you have a duty to ensure they are safe when they are on your premises or farm.

Provide:

• handrails on stairs and ramps where necessary, and safety hoops or rest stages on long vertical fixed ladders used regularly, eg external access to grain bins;
• good drainage in wet processes such as vegetable washing areas or dairies, and keep outdoor routes salted, sanded and swept during icy conditions;
• adequate and suitable lighting. Use natural light where possible but try to avoid glare. Note that some fluorescent tubes flicker and can be dangerous, making rotating machinery appear stationary. Well-lit outside areas will help security;
• adequate temperature and ventilation including fresh air when working inside;
• safety signs where a significant risk to health and safety remains after you have taken other control measures identified by your risk assessment.

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General workplace health

Workplaces can cause health problems, so make sure you provide:

• seats with a backrest supporting the small of the back and, if needed, a footrest, where workers can be done seated, eg vegetable grading;
• machine controls designed and arranged to provide a comfortable working position;
• engineering controls, eg local exhaust ventilation systems, to reduce health risks from noise or dangerous substances such as grain dust;
• well-designed tools and working areas to reduce hand and forearm injury caused by repetitive movements, eg on vegetable or fruit grading lines.

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Toilet and welfare facilities

There is a risk of illness from hazardous substances and from muck or other animal products carrying potentially hazardous micro-­organisms. If you have full- or part-time, casual or permanent workers, provide rest facilities and:

• clean, well-ventilated toilets;
• washbasins with hot and cold (or warm) water, soap and towels (or a hand dryer);
• portable toilet and washing facilities for workers working away from base;
• changing facilities if workers need to change in and out of special clothing;
• a clean drinking water supply (marked to distinguish it from any non-drinkable supply).

Confined spaces

A confined space is anywhere that, because it is enclosed, results in a risk of serious injury from fire or explosion, loss of consciousness from lack of oxygen, drowning, or asphyxiation. Confined spaces on farms include:

• produce stores such as grain/forage silos and bins, or controlled atmosphere fruit and vegetable stores;
• pits such as grain elevator pits, slurry pits and chambers or vehicle pits.

There have been deaths in confined spaces on farms. Sometimes more than one person has been killed – the second person often being a would-be rescuer. If you have areas which present any of these risks you must:

• avoid working in the confined space if you can. Can the work be done from outside?
• follow a safe system of work if you really have to work in a confined space. Consider:
  • the need for competent people;
  • testing the atmosphere to make sure it can support life, and does not contain dangerous levels of gases such as hydrogen sulphide;
  • whether the area is adequately ventilated before entry;
    providing personal protective equipment, including breathing apparatus;
• make arrangements in case something goes wrong. Never enter the confined space without making proper emergency arrangements. Provide rescue equipment, including harnesses and safety lines. Ensure you can rapidly notify the emergency services in an emergency.

For further information on managing the risks from slurry please see Working Safely with Slurry.

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Fire precautions in workplaces

Assess the risks if a fire were to break out, and make sure that:

• you have safe means of escape, kept free from obstructions and clearly marked;
• everyone knows what to do if a fire starts, especially how to raise the alarm. Display fire action instructions and have a fire drill periodically;
• any fire alarms work (check them weekly) and that people can hear them everywhere over normal background noise;
• you have enough extinguishers, of the right type, to deal promptly with small outbreaks of fire
• workers know how to use the extinguishers;
• you keep all extinguishers serviced and maintained.

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Fertiliser storage

Store all fertilisers safely. Special requirements apply for the storage of ammonium nitrate (AN) fertiliser. It can help other materials to burn and in certain circumstances it can explode and give off toxic fumes.

• Storage buildings should be constructed of non-combustible material and should not contain other combustible materials.
• Where this is not reasonably practicable, store AN fertilisers as far away as possible from combustible materials and never within 2 m.
• When storing 25 tonnes or more (with a nitrogen content of greater than 28% by weight), you must inform the local Fire Authority and display a suitable warning sign.
• If you are storing 150 tonnes or more of AN and the nitrogen content exceeds 15.75% by weight, you must notify HSE within four weeks.

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Chemical and veterinary medicine storage

Full advice on pesticide stores is contained in HSE’s Agriculture Information Sheet AIS16 Guidance on storing pesticides for farmers and other professional users. Also see Pesticides and veterinary medicines. Other hazardous substances such as dairy detergents, disinfectants and veterinary medicines should also be stored safely and securely where they cannot harm the environment or children.

Check that containers of potentially hazardous substances are locked away when not needed for immediate use, in an area:

• safe from accidental damage and children, vermin or birds;
• that is fireproof for 30 minutes;
• able to contain spillages, with protected drains if they might be polluted.

Keep records of what is in the store in case of fire.

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Consider the specific risks on your farm

• Do you use mobile gas heaters, eg in caravans or for gas brooders? Are they maintained and placed in areas with adequate ventilation for workers?
• Have you introduced new risks, eg biodiesel production? Where are you making it and where are you storing it?
• Are you diversifying, eg with open farms and shops? Have they been assessed for general public access and are they introducing vehicle movement risks and traffic organisation problems?
• Do you have a level crossing? You need to ensure that both you and others using it on your behalf know what they need to do to use the crossing safely.