Farm Safety Week: Farming has the poorest safety record of any occupation in the UK and Ireland

Organised by the charity Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies), this year’s event comes in the wake of the latest workplace fatalities report, which flagged agriculture as statistically the most dangerous industry in the country, with 42 people losing their lives on UK and Ireland farms over the past year.

In Northern Ireland, farming accounted for three of the eight (38%) reported workplace fatalities in 2022/2023 according to the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI). And in the Republic of Ireland, farming - which accounts for 8% of the workforce (according to CSO’s Labour Force Survey) has 40% of all workplace fatal incidents – 12 of the 20 reported in 2022/2023.

While other industries have seen a reduction in worker death rates, agriculture remains one of the three most hazardous sectors of activity (along with construction and mining)

Farm Safety Foundation/Yellow Wellies manager Stephanie Berkeley said the release of this year’s figures serves as a ‘sombre reminder’ of why Farm Safety Week matters and why more must be done to address the poor safety record in the industry and make farms safer places to work and to live.

Due to higher-than-average retirement ages, the sector is also seeing a worrying trend in incidents among the over-65s.

Stephanie added: “While we are seeing an encouraging improvement in the attitudes and behaviours in the next generation of farmers, we are also seeing a disproportionately higher number of older farmers losing their lives in farm incidents – 33% of fatal injuries were in people over the age of 65. The fact is, every single one of us living and working in the industry needs to step up and take responsibility, and challenge and change their attitudes so we can make our farms safer places to work and to live.”

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) said it is getting behind the annual Farm Safety Week to help encourage safe working on farms and to improve farmers’ attitudes towards farm safety.

UFU deputy president William Irvine said: “All of us are guilty of thinking ‘it will never happen to me’, but, as Farm Safety Week has shown in the past, and will do again this year, a farm accident can happen to anyone in a spilt second, changing lives forever. The heart-breaking thing about most farm accidents is that they could have been prevented. So, I ask all farmers across Northern Ireland, to put their health and wellbeing before farming no matter what the weather forecast or how many jobs are on your to do list. By doing this, you are not only actively working to keep yourself save, but you are also protecting the farm business and most importantly your family from the devastating experience of losing a loved one.”

For more information on Farm Safety Week visit www.yellowwellies.org or follow @yellowwelliesUK on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook using the hashtag #FarmSafetyWeek.