Health and safety thread.

[topground]

As a one man operation I work on the principle of constant dynamic risk assessment of all of the activities I undertake. No point in writing anything down and I find I learn very quickly from near misses, mainly with cattle.

 

[kiwi pom]

Most accidents are caused by lack of common sense and being in a hurry

Yep. There was a chap killed not far from where you used to work over here.
It happened because everyone was always in a hurry, it was a culture on the farm led in my view by the boss and never gave any consideration to doing things the right way. It was, as many are a freak accident but anyone looking after it happened would say "what was he thinking?" answer, he wasn't thinking, he was too busy rushing and was only saving about 5 seconds anyway.

 

[multi power]

Yep. There was a chap killed not far from where you used to work over here.
It happened because everyone was always in a hurry, it was a culture on the farm led in my view by the boss and never gave any consideration to doing things the right way. It was, as many are a freak accident but anyone looking after it happened would say "what was he thinking?" answer, he wasn't thinking, he was too busy rushing and was only saving about 5 seconds anyway.

What happened?

 

[multi power]

Another dangerous thing is bad teamwork, not being aware of others you are working with

 

[DRC]

No ones mention the health side. A lot of farmers have suffered breathing and lung issues from not wearing masks in dust, whether that’s from grain bins, hay and straw or livestock . Then there’s the scandal of Op poisoning from sheep dips, warble fly treatments and other chemicals .

 

[kiwi pom]

I think everyone gets hysterical about H&S and comes up with increasing ridiculous scenarios to prove how pointless it is, so start with some easy stuff.
If you need a quad, and i'm not sure many do, wear a helmet it could help if you crash.
If you have cattle look at your handling system, is it safe for you, staff and vets to use? If its not fix that first before finding something else to concentrate on because as many have said cattle are one of the biggest risks.
If you have a footpath through your yard make a start on trying to get it moved and keep a paper trail.
Don't get out of a tractor to unblock/adjust a machine if its still running. You'd think this obvious but it still happens and people still die.
Farming is singled out by the HSE because people aren't doing simple, common sense stuff, not because they don't have a visitors book or are missing an MSDS sheet.
Many on here say people just need to use common sense, I've been on hundreds of farms and in my opinion common sense was missing on a large percentage of them.

 

[DRC]

Three nasty ones I can think of that happened locally. One was when a tractor driver went to help a neighbour who was stuck and the chain snapped with disasterous consequences . ( always use straps), then someone trapped in an auger when they were working up in a grain store and a fellow worker turned it on, not aware his colleague was up there .
Thirdly a man trapped ina potato grader after trying to remove a blockage without switching it off.

 

[kiwi pom]

What happened?

It involved a spud truck and trailer, lads were making the trailer 'field ready' BEFORE it had been unhooked from the truck. I believe the hitch didn't release but the shunt valve had already been pushed and the trailer came with the truck running over the chap standing at the front, dropping the side down.
Just a case of not following procedure. Too much rush rush.

 

[kiwi pom]

Three nasty ones I can think of that happened locally. One was when a tractor driver went to help a neighbour who was stuck and the chain snapped with disasterous consequences . ( always use straps), then someone trapped in an auger when they were working up in a grain store and a fellow worker turned it on, not aware his colleague was up there .
Thirdly a man trapped ina potato grader after trying to remove a blockage without switching it off.

Sad isn't it. All basic common sense stuff but many of us do it without thinking.

 

[multi power]

It involved a spud truck and trailer, lads were making the trailer 'field ready' BEFORE it had been unhooked from the truck. I believe the hitch didn't release but the shunt valve had already been pushed and the trailer came with the truck running over the chap standing at the front, dropping the side down.
Just a case of not following procedure. Too much rush rush.

Oh not good, I lost a friend and colleague a year ago in not too different circumstances

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Do young farmers still do talks from people who hurt themselves?

Long time ago now but I can still remember talks given by 2 chaps. One who lost both arms unblocking a combine I think and one chap who lost an arm in a baler.

Seeing the consequences of these things first hand can make you more mindful than a clipboard expert so to speak.

 

[Happy]

Farming is singled out by the HSE because people aren't doing simple, common sense stuff, not because they don't have a visitors book or are missing an MSDS sheet.
Many on here say people just need to use common sense, I've been on hundreds of farms and in my opinion common sense was missing on a large percentage of them.

Big round of HSE inspections of farms in Scotland from January.
They’ve been inviting farmers to attend workshops for the past couple of months on what to expect they will be looking for during an inspection.

Reason for them is accident rate not gone down at all following carrot approach they used 5 or 6 years ago of attending safety awareness day to ensure your not on inspection list.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I think my biggest leap in H&S I made was when my first child began venturing out on the farm with me, then two of.

You don't need to be told about identifying and minimising risks then, and you begin to realise that people just don't know where dangers lie, they haven't had the benefit of being told, ever.

So that was a big wake-up, I'd believed in common sense because I was taught it, too. We aren't born with it.

 

[Farfrae]

is construction any better, you only have to look on FB to see some of the stupid things they get up to pissing about

Well actually the construction industry is much better than agriculture. The rate of fatal injury in Construction, while around 4 times as high as the average rate across all
industries, is considerably less than the rate in either Agriculture or Waste and recycling, despite accounting for a greater number of cases than these sectors.

Then again nearly every other industry is better than Agriculture other than the Waste and Recycling industry.

Rate of fatal injuries by selected main industry group (per 100,000 workers), 2017/18p and annual average for 2013/14-2017/18p

But everything is fine in Agriculture we don't need to do anything - we only have a fatality rate nearly 20 times worse than that for all industry.

Let's just keep ridiculing 'elf and safey' and let 30 mothers, fathers and children mourn every year so that we can take a shortcut and save a minute or a pound.

 

[Henarar]

But everything is fine in Agriculture we don't need to do anything - we only have a fatality rate nearly 20 times worse than that for all industry.

Let's just keep ridiculing 'elf and safey' and let 30 mothers, fathers and children mourn every year so that we can take a shortcut and save a minute or a pound.

that's not a very good attitude, some of us take it seriously but if you want to carry on like that then that's up to you

 

[mf298]

Well actually the construction industry is much better than agriculture. The rate of fatal injury in Construction, while around 4 times as high as the average rate across all
industries, is considerably less than the rate in either Agriculture or Waste and recycling, despite accounting for a greater number of cases than these sectors.

Then again nearly every other industry is better than Agriculture other than the Waste and Recycling industry.

Rate of fatal injuries by selected main industry group (per 100,000 workers), 2017/18p and annual average for 2013/14-2017/18p

View attachment 751266
But everything is fine in Agriculture we don't need to do anything - we only have a fatality rate nearly 20 times worse than that for all industry.

Let's just keep ridiculing 'elf and safey' and let 30 mothers, fathers and children mourn every year so that we can take a shortcut and save a minute or a pound.

I saw a recent bulletin showing 4 fatalities on farms recently. 4 families without a loved one. Think on guys......... It could be you if you don't think about what you are doing.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Comparison get you nowhere, the building industry is totally different to the farming environment ,145 deaths on roads. 45 of those pedestrians
If we need to be made more aware then this topic can help in making us more aware

 

[Drillman]

Do young farmers still do talks from people who hurt themselves?

Long time ago now but I can still remember talks given by 2 chaps. One who lost both arms unblocking a combine I think and one chap who lost an arm in a baler.

Seeing the consequences of these things first hand can make you more mindful than a clipboard expert so to speak.

I know of a chap that lost an arm to a baler as well. It always makes me stop and think when I have a baler related problem. And I often find my self taking a breath and switching the tractor off before tinkering or unblocking.

 

[Dry Rot]

There is the comment “the get out of jail card if you will” I wasn’t shown the safe way to do it..... example no one told me not to stop a running chainsaw with my hand therefore is not my fault.

Wasn't there a case where a woman successfully sued a hire company because they hired her a chain saw which she promptly put through her foot? I think the court ruled that the hire company should have insisted that she'd gone on a course! Can't remember what compensation she was awarded, but probably a lot.

 

[Dry Rot]

I think maybe we need higher prices for what we produce, this would encourage more youngsters to stay at home and farm, and therefor older workers could “back off” a little as I believe fatalities are disproportionally older workers

Well, old people tend to die anyway due to old age! Farmers don't retire, they die in harness so, yes, work related fatalities if you will.

Personally, I'd rather be killed by a horse or get run over by a machine than end up like my dad in a home where they were debating whether to amputate both his legs to prevent gangrene! Luckily, the grim reaper intervened.

I suspect most of these arguements about making it easier for older farmers to retire has a lot to do with the green eyed monster. It's our land they're after! Also strange that that the elderly have fewer accidents on the roads than young people, but then you can prove anything with statistics.