HSE appeals to Scottish farming families "work with us to stem rising tide of deaths in agriculture"

HSE press release E101:03 - 19 June 2003

The agricultural industry in Scotland claimed 11 lives in 2002/03 - the highest number since 1996/97 - according to figures released for the first time by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Dr Roger Nourish, Head of HSE's Agriculture and Food Sector, said: "These are very disappointing figures, more so because almost all these deaths could have been avoided.

"Although there is no underlying pattern of accident causation, the statistics represent tragic confirmation of two worrying trends in agriculture as a whole - rising fatal accident incidence rates amongst the self-employed and family farms and a continuing high proportion of deaths amongst farmers over 65.

"I want to make a direct appeal to the wives, husbands, partners and families of the self-employed and family farms to work with us to protect your loved one's lives and your livelihoods."

Eight of the victims were self-employed and three were employees. Four were above the normal retirement age of 65 and all were self employed farmers. More than half were aged over 55.

Dr Nourish continued: "Older workers are particularly vulnerable if they fail to recognise known risks and take action because of their reduced capacity to withstand and survive a serious injury.

"The high number of deaths this year should prompt the whole industry to stop, take stock, think about health and safety and act. Farmers must treat health and safety as a fundamental requirement of their business and I hope they will when they realise that a total of 90 people have been killed in Scottish agriculture over the past ten years. "

In the coming year, HSE inspectors in Scotland would be targeting transport, falls from height, child safety and musculoskeletal disorders in their visits to farms and forests.

"Inspectors will be carrying out targeted campaigns including transport related issues. We will also continue to run our successful programme of Safety Awareness Days for the self-employed and small farmers to highlight common health and safety issues and solutions. We want to strengthen our links with key people and organisations in the Scottish rural community, working in partnership with them to raise awareness of health and safety on farms and to stimulate action to ensure the survival and well being of Scottish farmers."

He made clear the simple steps farming families could take:

• Visit our web site (www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture)
• Get hold of our free good practice leaflets and other guidance
• Come when invited to our safety awareness days
• Follow the guidance - put it into practice

Dr Nourish added: "Ask your loved ones what work they are doing on the farm today and how they are going to make sure they come home in one piece."

Notes to editors

1. Details of all the fatalities in agricultural sector in Great Britain are in 'Fatal injuries in farming, forestry and horticulture 2002/2003' which will be launched at the Royal Show on July 1 at 11am.

2. Details of Scottish deaths in the agricultural sector 2002/2003 show no underlying pattern of accident causation. Two accidents involved transport; a tractor overturn on a rubbish tip and a pierced groin from the forks of a loader. Contact with moving machinery caused one death, when the victim attempted to clear a blockage whilst the machine was still running. Two men were overcome by toxic gases in a single incident in an underground slurry store. The remaining six accidents involved: a bullet from a weapon; a falling tree; an attack by a cow; a fall from a ladder leaning against a tree; a drowning when a boat overturned and a fall from a trailer.

• Scotland East
  • A 29 year old employee was trapped in the rollers of a potato harvester whilst he trying to clear a blockage. He climbed onto the harvester without stopping the machine or tractor and attempted to unblock the rollers using a metal bar and is believed to have fallen or been drawn into machine. His right arm, shoulder and part of his chest became trapped in the haulm rollers of the harvester causing fatal injuries.
  • A 29 year old self employed man died from a single gunshot wound to his chest. He was checking a fox trap in a steep sided gulley when the gun accidentally discharged. It appears he either slipped while carrying the gun or that it discharged when being laid down or picked up off the ground.
  • A 42 year old self employed man was killed when he was struck by a falling tree on a steep hillside. It appears that he had felled a tree that became hung up and then attempted to take down the tree in the direction it was hung. The tree worked itself loose knocking him over and down the slope as it fell.
  • A 68 year old self employed farmer was killed when he became impaled on the forks of a front-end loader. He was using a tractor with a front-end loader attachment to transport metal roofing sheets from a trailer to a silage pit he was constructing. He stopped the tractor on a slight slope, near to the silage pit and applied the handbrake. As he was standing in front of the tractor it rolled forward and the forks pierced his groin, impaling him against the silage face.
  • A 68 year old self employed farmer suffered fatal head injuries after falling from a trailer onto a concrete floor whilst levelling grain prior to sheeting. The height of the trailer body was approximately 2.2 metres at the point at which he had been standing immediately prior to the accident. It could not be established why or how he fell.
  • A 77 year old self employed farmer was found lying in a field with multiple injuries after a cow attacked him. He had entered the field to feed a calf, which was not suckling. The calf's mother attacked him as he attempted to administer colostrum to her newly born calf. He received rib and spinal injuries in the attack and became tetraplegic. He subsequently died in hospital from pneumonia.
  • A 67 year old self employed farmer was crushed when the tractor he was using to compact a rubbish tip overturned. The tip area was at the bottom of a bank and was on soft, unconsolidated ground. It appears he was running tractor backwards and forwards across the top of the bank/tip area. At some point the tractor moved off the level section and onto the slope moving sideways across the slope. The lower wheels sank into the mud, causing the tractor to topple over, landing upside down. The driver was trapped below the tractor and was unable to get out. Tractor was fitted with a loader but not with a roll bar or cab.
  • A 35 year old employee drowned when his boat overturned. The boat carrying a tonne of fish and a feed cannon, was travelling around a headland between cage groups when it overturned, throwing him into the water. His life jacket did not inflate and by the time help arrived he had disappeared beneath the water.
• Scotland West
  • 22 year old employee and a 62 year old self employed farmer were killed when they entered an underground slurry store to rescue a heifer. The liquid manure storage system was located under a slatted concrete floor beneath the cattle shed. There was a mixture of slurry and silage effluent in the store. No assessment had been made of the risk of asphyxiation or of being overcome by toxic gases and no personal or respiratory protective equipment was used. Pending the outcome of the inquest, it is not known whether the men drowned, were asphyxiated or were overcome by toxic gases.
  • A 56 year old self employed arborist died when he fell from a ladder leaning against a tree. He had placed the ladder against another tree approximately 2.5 metres from the tree to be felled. It appears he was attempting to attach a rope to the dead tree's branch in order to control the direction it would fall after it had been cut. Ladders were still in place against the tree after the accident. He may have lost his footing as he attempted to secure a rope to the adjacent dead tree.

3. Injuries in Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fish farming in Scotland as reported to HSE 1991/1992 to 2001/2002*

* Provisional data

Note: Data from 1996/97 use the new definitions in the Reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations 1995 which extended the qualifying criteria for major injuries and alter the requirements for reporting injuries to members of the public.

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