3 in 5 farm vets report being injured on the job in the last year

Written by Rachel Martin

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) is urging farmers and veterinarians to develop robust on-farm health and safety procedures after it has found as many as three in every five farm vets have been injured on the job.

Survey findings released during Farm Safety Week reveal that 61% of vets working with production animals suffered injuries in a 12-month period.

A similar number working in equine practice (65%) and mixed practice (66%) were also injured by animals in the course of their work.

One in five production animal vets responding to BVA’s Autumn 2018 Voice of the Veterinary Profession survey rated their injuries as “very or quite severe”.

By far, the most common injury was bruising caused by kicks, with 81% of production animal vets who had been injured reporting this.

Other injuries reported included crush injuries, lacerations, scratches and bites. Almost a fifth of those surveyed (19%) had to take time off work as a result of their most severe injury.

Vets responding to the survey described some of the injuries they had received and their impact on their health and careers.

“I was kicked by a cow during a caesarean, flew backwards into my kit and sprained a wrist – in the same week as a horse hit my face with its head. But I was unable to take time off work as I’m the only one here,” one vet said.

“Regrettably, I am giving up large animal work because it is too dangerous,” another reported. “I am the lead earner in my house and we wish to start a family and cattle work is simply too dangerous now because of the risk of serious kick and crush injuries.”



BVA president Simon Doherty (pictured above) shared his own first-hand experience with on-farm injuries and their life-changing impact.

“I’ve been stood on, kicked and had my arm broken whilst working with cattle. I’ve had problems with my back due to the physical aspects of repeated lambings and calvings – particularly at night-time – and when I ruptured a spinal ligament calving a heifer with a uterine torsion, the injury was serious enough that I could no longer continue working in large animal practice,” he said.

These figures show the serious risk of injury that production animal vets run in the course of their work, even when handling facilities are relatively good.
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“Animals on a farm can be large, heavy and unpredictable, and farmers and vets up and down the country have seen colleagues injured on farms and frequently unable to work as a result.

“Health and safety assessments by farmers, vets and veterinary employers can reduce these injuries and save lives by informing action plans to minimise avoidable risk.

“Safe and well-maintained facilities and restraining equipment, such as cattle crushes, pens, gates and safe escape routes, are also key to reducing injuries to humans as well as animals. I’d encourage farmers and vets to start the conversation and take action to minimise avoidable risks.”

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) guide, Farmwise, has easy-to-follow, practical advice for farmers to make sure anyone working on a farm, including vets, is safe and healthy at work.

It can be used to start a discussion with vets about minimising avoidable risks on farm.

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[Cowabunga]

Yes, large animals should be banned because there are risks associated with handling them. They are big and heavy and even one stepping on your foot can cause significant injury.

My own pet peeve is TB testing. Farmers and vets are put at great risk regularly just because we cannot get rid of the infecting host by law. It is just too cuddly looking and the politicians haven't got the balls. They don't mind us all being put at risk every few months and wasting several days every year.

Another one is subcutaneous injections for viruses and worms etc. Who the hell decided that mass subcutaneous injecting of large animals that object to needles was safe for the operator? Its just not. I only do maybe 600 to 700 such inoculations annually but in the last four years have pierced myself three times, once actually injecting myself with some Salmonella vaccine. All in the name of protecting the integrity and quality and safety of my milk and the welfare of my animals. Nearly lost a finger that time and it felt like someone was hammering a nail into it for six months afterwards.

What sort of risk assessment would prevent all of this? f**k all!! What would prevent it would be the elimination of TB in cattle for the first, and intramuscular injections in the second, which are a walk in the park compared to having to pinch the skin and insert a needle by your hand.

There's my risk assessment rant for the day !!! Although the day is young yet.
Vet is here for fertility visit on Monday and has 55 animals to PD. New vet for us, so higher potential risk in my assessment. What can I do about that? They are the 'trained professionals'. We are just the stooges landed with the responsibility for their safety regardless of whether I know if they have an ounce of sense or not.