Tragic rise in agriculture deaths

Policy Release

Date:

30 June 2010

New figures for the number of workers who were fatally injured in the agriculture sector have today been released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

They show that between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010:

• 38 agriculture workers were killed at work, marking a return to average levels of previous years in contrast to the record low in 2008/09 when 25 workers died
• the rate of fatal injuries in the sector was 8.2 per 100,000 workers, making it the most dangerous industry in which to work
• of the 38 agriculture workers killed, 17 were employees and 21 were self employed people.
• seven members of the public were also killed in work related accidents in the sector.

HSE's Head of Agriculture, Graeme Walker said:

"38 workers were killed on British farms last year, failing to come home to their families because of avoidable safety failings - proving once again that agriculture is the most dangerous way of making a living in Great Britain.

"The fact that many of these lives have been lost in family businesses is a double tragedy. Not only have families been ripped apart, but businesses that have been handed down through generations have been ruined.

"Farming and agricultural work has a poor safety record compared with other industries - we cannot let this trend continue."

Judith Hackitt, the HSE Chair, said:

"We are especially concerned to see the continuing high levels of fatalities in agriculture.

"No industry can or should regard high levels of death and injury as being 'part of the job'.

"It is time for British agriculture industry to wake up to the enormous toll of death and injury which occurs year on year and lead the way to improvement just as other sectors have shown is possible."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture
2. Across all sectors and regions there were 151 workplace deaths in 2009/10 and 178 in 2009/09. Further information on workplace statistics can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics
3. The average number of fatalities in agriculture per year over the last five years has been 37 workers, while the average rate of fatal injury over that period has been 8.7 per 100,000 workers.
4. In each of the last five years, the number of fatal injuries in agriculture has been:
   • 2008/09 - 25 workers died
   • 2007/08 - 46 workers died
   • 2006/07 - 36 workers died
   • 2005/06 - 34 workers died
   • 2004/05 - 42 workers died
5. The reporting of health and safety incidents at work is a statutory requirement, set out under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR). A reportable incident includes: a death or major injury; any accident which does not result in major injury, but the injured person still has to take three or more days off their normal work to recover; a work related disease; a member of the public being injured as a result of work related activity and taken to hospital for treatment; or a dangerous occurrence, which does not result in a serious injury, but could have done.
6. The figures for 2009/10 are provisional. They will be finalised in June 2011 following any necessary adjustments arising from investigations, in which new facts can emerge about whether the accident was work-related. The delay of a year in finalising the figures allows for such matters to be fully resolved in the light of formal interviews with all relevant witnesses, forensic investigation and coroners rulings.
7. 'Make the promise. Come home safe' is an initiative as part of a wider programme of activity in the agricultural sector to help reduce the numbers of people killed or injured on farms. More than 29,000 farmers have made the pledge to date. 'Make the Promise' is increasingly being adopted by the farming community and it already has strong support from the NFU and the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs. For more information visit www.hse.gov.uk/makethepromise

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