Comment – Stay safe

This week, is Farm Safety Week, which is a timely reminder, that whilst we may not be rushing round in the fields gathering harvest, our customers are, and by default their machines, will be breaking down.

The connection is very close to the agricultural machinery supply chain, for obvious reasons. But in this case, the same pressures apply, weather and the need to get the customers kit up and running again, as fast as possible. Consequently the same factors are at play which lead to accidents, injuries and sadly fatalities.

in 2024 124 people were killed in work-related accidents  in the UK, of these, sadly 23 were within agriculture. Digging deeper, 9 related to transport (operating agricultural vehicles or machinery, runover incidents, rollover incidentsand crush incidents) and two related to machinery (entanglement and PTO shafts).

Despite accounting for only 1% of the working population, agriculture accounts for 20% of all workplace deaths, and the fatality rate is 21 times the UK all industry average. Plus this accident rate has been substantially flatlining for the last decade or so.  Have a read of this sobering piece from the NFU last year, the facts remain the same.

Lets not be complacent at work, its reasonable to expect everyone to come home safe and in one piece at the end of the working day, so plan to work safely and keep an eye on your customers and their kit too.

As an agricultural engineer, I am mindful of the responsibility regarding the design of safe machines and systems, and to steal another engineers great quote:

“If profit is the only priority, and safety is of limited importance, given sufficient time someone will always be killed.

“If you are responsible for a process, ask yourself if profit has been the priority, then how long has the clock been ticking before something happens”. Quite.

A regular correspondent reminded me that one of his top health and safety tips is to always take a phone with him, and tell someone where he was going and when he would be back. Wise words.

I’m trying to make hay this week and trying not to rush, it’s hard. In high octane situations, as I can feel the stress building, the best thing I can do, is press the pause button and take a breath. Not always easy, but essential to look after yourself and others.

Have a safe week.

Andy