Latest statistics on deaths highlight dangers of the agricultural industry

E068:08 19 December 2008

Agriculture remains one of Britain's most dangerous industries, according to the latest agricultural statistics report published today by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). In 2007/08 another 39 workers died bringing the ten-year total death toll to 455. Alarmingly, year on year, over the last ten years the number of deaths in agriculture has remained at a consistently high level.

Less than 1.5 per cent of the working population is employed in agriculture yet the sector is responsible for between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of fatalities to workers in Great Britain each year.

Judith Donovan, non-executive HSE Board member and agriculture champion, said: "It is simply unacceptable that, almost every week, someone dies in a needless farm accident. These accidents don't just destroy lives; they destroy whole families, and often their farms too. They continue to happen, year after year after year and for this reason HSE is launching a new campaign in January 2009 to help encourage farmers to take extra care to stay safe."

The major causes of deaths in 2007/2008 were:

• 34 per cent dying in accidents involving overturning vehicles or being struck by vehicles
• 21 per cent dying as a result of a moving or falling object
• 14 per cent dying in falls
• Seven per cent dying as a result of injuries by an animal

The winter months are a particularly dangerous period in the farming calendar. Farmers are working during hours of darkness, with cattle indoors and poor weather conditions increasing the risks. Over the last ten years there has been no significant drop in the number of fatalities on farms, the major causes have also remained unchanged.

"The latest statistics highlight that farming is dangerous and now in these difficult financial times, farmers might be tempted to take risks to save money by cutting back on help or taking shortcuts. We want to make farmers, their families and their helpers to stop and think how they can be aware of the dangers around them." Concluded Judith Donovan.

The Fatal Injuries in Farming, Forestry Horticulture and Associated Industries report is available on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/index.htm

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