AGRICULTURE VOLUNTEERS WANTED TO TEST NEW SOFTWARE

HSE press release E154:03 - 4 September 2003

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is seeking volunteers from the farming industry to take part in a pilot to test a free health and safety software package.

The interactive software has been developed by HSE to help farmers carry out a comprehensive health and safety assessment of their farms. It is aimed at all farmers (whether they employ anyone or not) as well as farm managers who are responsible for health and safety.

It will provide a clear step-by-step route into learning about the precautions they need to take to comply with the law and to protect their own health and safety, as well as any people who work for them or who may be affected by their farming activities.

Chris Molde from HSE's Agriculture Sector said: "On average 50 people are killed each year and many thousands more suffer injury or ill-health. Farming is one of the industries with the most serious risks of injuries and fatalities so we are encouraging as many people as possible to take part in this pilot scheme.

"It will run until mid-December and as part of a short evaluation exercise HSE will contact everyone who took part to find out what they thought of the software and provide feedback on their assessment.

"We hope that farmers, especially those operating largely single handed or as a small team, will find this a useful tool and I would like to thank in advance those who take part in this pilot."

Features of the self-assessment package include:

• A downloadable application which can be installed on a computer and completed off-line at leisure;
• A system that tailors the questions to those that are relevant to each individual farm;
• A series of questions on key health and safety topics to test the knowledge of respondents;
• A benchmark for each question of the minimum standards that should be reached to comply with legal requirements, and, the reasoning behind it;
• A facility to order relevant free HSE guidance;
• The ability to add additional risks to the form which are either not covered by the questions or which are specific to the respondent's farm;
• The facility to submit completed forms to HSE for assessment.

Notes to editors

The package is only available to those who have a computer with access to the Internet. If the pilot is a success the tool will be launched nationally in April 2004 and a CD version is planned for people who do not have Internet access.

Press enquiries

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