Agriculture has one of the highest fatal injury rates of any industry in Great Britain, but is the only high-risk industry that has to deal with the constant presence of children. Farms are homes as well as workplaces, and visitors, including children, may also be present on farms.
Children and young people up to the age of 18 are regularly killed and injured on farms, either because they are working on the farm or because they are playing there.
This leaflet provides practical guidance on how to reduce the risk of injury to children under 13 and older children below minimum school leaving age (usually 16). It also identifies tasks and operations that are too hazardous for children and young people to do and includes examples of incidents from real life – often involving a parent killing their own child.
Previously published as AS10, this guidance has been updated but there is no change to the policy/law relating to children on farms.
Introduction
Agriculture has one of the highest fatal injury rates of any industry in Great Britain, but is the only high-risk industry that has to deal with the constant presence of children. Farms are homes as well as workplaces, and visitors, including children, may also be present on farms. Children and young people up to the age of 18 are regularly killed and injured on farms, either because they are working on the farm or because they are playing there. The ways in which children are killed varies little from year to year. The most common causes of death and major injury in the last decade were:
■ falling from vehicles;
■ being struck by moving vehicles or objects;
■ contact with machinery;
■ driving vehicles;
■ falls from height;
■ drowning and asphyxiation;
■ poisoning;
■ fire;
■ contact with animals.
The children who died were:
■ being carried as passengers on agricultural plant and machinery;
■ not under proper adult supervision;
■ working/helping around the farm;
■ playing unsupervised; or
■ trespassing.
For the main risk areas, this leaflet:
■ provides practical guidance on how to reduce the risk of injury to children under 13 and older children below minimum school leaving age (usually 16);
■ identifies tasks and operations that are too hazardous for children and young people to do and includes examples of incidents from real life – often involving a parent or grandparent killing their child.
Children under the age of 13
Remember that, although parents are responsible for preventing their children straying or trespassing into areas where they may be at risk, all adults working in agriculture – employers, employees, contractors, or other visiting workers – must take responsibility for child safety.
Identify what might put children at risk
You can become blind to risks you see every day. There can be risks to children that aren’t risks to adults, such as an old gate left propped against a wall. When you are deciding what may cause harm to children, it may help to ask a safety representative, an employee, a friend or a neighbour to have a look at your farm – it’s amazing what hazards and risks fresh eyes will see. Remember it is your duty to control and manage any hazards and risks identified. You should also look at the fixed hazards in your farmyard, outbuildings and stores.
These will include, for example, hung and freestanding gates, fixed and portable ladders, sheep-dip baths, slurry lagoons, grain silos, feed stores, propped machinery, machinery being maintained, cattle crushes, loft storage areas, silage clamps, barns, cattle stalls and glasshouses. Remember too that many accidents to children on farms involve moving vehicles.
Then run through your work year to identify the range of hazards that can arise, eg silaging, grain hauling and similar peak farm activity often coincides with the school holidays. For simple and practical guidance on assessing the risks on your farm and what you need to do to control them visit www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/topics/risk-assessment.htm
Can children carry out simple tasks on the farm?
Egg collection, for example, is often thought to be a safe and easy activity to allow children to do alone, but there may be dangers you have not thought about. You still need to question what a task actually involves.
For example:
■ Where hens are allowed to nest freely about the farm, where may children have to go to look for eggs?
■ Will they need to climb up somewhere two-handed and climb down onehanded?
■ Will they need to cross working areas where there are vehicle movements?
■ Will they need to enter animal pens?
■ Are younger children adequately supervised?
Click Download for the full document.
Children and young people up to the age of 18 are regularly killed and injured on farms, either because they are working on the farm or because they are playing there.
This leaflet provides practical guidance on how to reduce the risk of injury to children under 13 and older children below minimum school leaving age (usually 16). It also identifies tasks and operations that are too hazardous for children and young people to do and includes examples of incidents from real life – often involving a parent killing their own child.
Previously published as AS10, this guidance has been updated but there is no change to the policy/law relating to children on farms.
Introduction
Agriculture has one of the highest fatal injury rates of any industry in Great Britain, but is the only high-risk industry that has to deal with the constant presence of children. Farms are homes as well as workplaces, and visitors, including children, may also be present on farms. Children and young people up to the age of 18 are regularly killed and injured on farms, either because they are working on the farm or because they are playing there. The ways in which children are killed varies little from year to year. The most common causes of death and major injury in the last decade were:
■ falling from vehicles;
■ being struck by moving vehicles or objects;
■ contact with machinery;
■ driving vehicles;
■ falls from height;
■ drowning and asphyxiation;
■ poisoning;
■ fire;
■ contact with animals.
The children who died were:
■ being carried as passengers on agricultural plant and machinery;
■ not under proper adult supervision;
■ working/helping around the farm;
■ playing unsupervised; or
■ trespassing.
For the main risk areas, this leaflet:
■ provides practical guidance on how to reduce the risk of injury to children under 13 and older children below minimum school leaving age (usually 16);
■ identifies tasks and operations that are too hazardous for children and young people to do and includes examples of incidents from real life – often involving a parent or grandparent killing their child.
Children under the age of 13
Remember that, although parents are responsible for preventing their children straying or trespassing into areas where they may be at risk, all adults working in agriculture – employers, employees, contractors, or other visiting workers – must take responsibility for child safety.
Identify what might put children at risk
You can become blind to risks you see every day. There can be risks to children that aren’t risks to adults, such as an old gate left propped against a wall. When you are deciding what may cause harm to children, it may help to ask a safety representative, an employee, a friend or a neighbour to have a look at your farm – it’s amazing what hazards and risks fresh eyes will see. Remember it is your duty to control and manage any hazards and risks identified. You should also look at the fixed hazards in your farmyard, outbuildings and stores.
These will include, for example, hung and freestanding gates, fixed and portable ladders, sheep-dip baths, slurry lagoons, grain silos, feed stores, propped machinery, machinery being maintained, cattle crushes, loft storage areas, silage clamps, barns, cattle stalls and glasshouses. Remember too that many accidents to children on farms involve moving vehicles.
Then run through your work year to identify the range of hazards that can arise, eg silaging, grain hauling and similar peak farm activity often coincides with the school holidays. For simple and practical guidance on assessing the risks on your farm and what you need to do to control them visit www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/topics/risk-assessment.htm
Can children carry out simple tasks on the farm?
Egg collection, for example, is often thought to be a safe and easy activity to allow children to do alone, but there may be dangers you have not thought about. You still need to question what a task actually involves.
For example:
■ Where hens are allowed to nest freely about the farm, where may children have to go to look for eggs?
■ Will they need to climb up somewhere two-handed and climb down onehanded?
■ Will they need to cross working areas where there are vehicle movements?
■ Will they need to enter animal pens?
■ Are younger children adequately supervised?
Click Download for the full document.
