farm health and safety

Its 3 years now since the report we did on farming poverty in the Durham Dales for Oxfam confirmed how tough a life tenant farmers face. Some choose to feed their livestock rather than themselves in tough times. They also soldier on with old dangerous equipment. This story is a sad confirmation of the fact that not all farmers are wealthy. It tells us

Farming remains the most dangerous industry in the UK with the highest rate of fatal injuries.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published the latest provisional figures on workplace fatalities (PDF) on Wednesday (1 July).

The figures showed 33 workers were killed on farms in England, Scotland and Wales between April 2014 and March 2015.

This represents a 22% increase from 2013-14, when 27 workers lost their lives in agriculture.

Of the 33 workers killed on farms, 14 were employees and 19 were self-employed.

In addition, four members of the public also died in accidents on farms in 2014-15.