This Farm Safety Week, we want your YFC to make a difference. Please pledge your Club’s and County’s support by committing to put NFYFC’s Farm Safety Curve training module on your Club Programmes.
Farm safety is one of NFYFC’s Chairman Ed Ford’s focuses for the year and he’s asking everyone to back the campaign taking place from 24 to 28 July 2017.
Farm Safety Week UK & Ireland has been timed to take place alongside the Royal Welsh Show, the pinnacle event in the British agricultural calendar. There is one clear message this year, which is Farm safety is a lifestyle not a slogan.
The initiative is supported by the Farm Safety Foundation, Farm Safety Partnerships, the Health & Safety Executive, Health & Safety Executive for Northern Ireland and the Health & Safety Authority, Ireland.
The statistics
Farming continues to have one of the poorest safety records of any occupation in the UK & Ireland but all the main farming organisations in the partner countries are working together for this week to address this.
The latest annual figures from the Health and Safety Executive show that out of 137 people killed or fatally injured in workplace accidents last year, 27 worked in agriculture.
The fatal injury rate for agriculture is 18 times higher than the five-year average for all industries.
What you can do to help
We want all our YFCs to run the Farm Safety Curve training module. It is a fun and interactive training session that has been developed with Yellow Wellies – and it could save someone’s life!
So we’re asking all our YFCs to pledge to deliver the training and get the session on their Club Programmes for 2017-18!
Show your support for Farm Safety Week by sharing our ‘pledge cards’ on social media, on your website and in your newsletters. Let the world know that your YFC is committed to farm safety.
Look out for more materials that Yellow Wellies and NFYFC will be promoting throughout the week. Use these and other available material to help us show that the next generation of farmers is taking safety seriously.
How to book your Farm Safety Curve training
To book a Farm Safety Curve training session for your Club you can register interest using the form in the top right hand corner of this page (or scroll to the end of the page if you are viewing on a mobile). NFYFC will then help you to set up a training session using one of our accredited trainers.
Curve training sessions can be delivered by anyone in your county who is an accredited trainer and registered with the training officer at NFYFC. Trainers are provided with a guide to delivering the training, and all the resources needed for a fun, informative session within your Club Programme including a certificate of completion. The sessions usually last around one and half hours.
If you would like to become an accredited trainer for your county so you can deliver the training module, find out about the course here.
NFYFC’s graphics to support the campaign will be available to download soon.
Download a Farm Safety pledge Facebook graphic
Download a Farm Safety pledge Instagram graphic
Download a Farm Safety pledge Twitter graphic
Supporting the Farm Safety Foundation’s campaign #FarmSafetyWeek
Farm Safety Week will offer five days of themed practical advice and guidance for farmers covering:
| Monday | HSE Agricultural Workplace Fatalities report |
| Tuesday | Machinery and transport |
| Wednesday | Falls |
| Thursday | Livestock |
| Friday | Children on farms |
The Farm Safety Foundation has scoured the country to gather inspirational stories to support each theme and offer valuable safety reminders about approaching farming tasks in the future.
Follow Yellow Wellies on Twitter @yellowwelliesUK and Like and Retweet their content throughout the week using the hashtag #FarmSafetyWeek
Top Tips for Staying Safe on the Farm
- You can’t work safely unless you know how to – make sure someone experienced shows you what to do or that you have been properly trained.
- Being hit by a moving vehicle, driven or runaway, is the biggest cause of fatalities. Keep pedestrians and vehicles apart if possible, ensure handbrakes are well maintained and follow ‘safe stop’ procedures (leave the gear in neutral, put on the handbrake and take out the key).
- Roofs are often fragile, even if they don’t look it. Falls from roofs cause several deaths every year. Treat all roofs as fragile and use equipment such as harnesses, coverings and guard rails.
- Riding a quad bike is not the same as riding a motorbike. Make sure that you are trained in the correct techniques and wear a helmet, as most injuries are sustained to the head.
- Livestock can be unpredictable even when you know them well. Using the right equipment and following safe working practices is better than trusting in the good nature of a bull or a cow and calf.
- Don’t forget overhead power lines – many accidents happen because people drive underneath power lines, forgetting that they are working with equipment raised.
- Slurry, effluent and moist grain stores are confined spaces and can all contain high levels of toxic gases – sometimes causing the death of a rescuer as well. You should never enter them unless you have made sure it is safe.
