Things that would improve farm safety ?

[holwellcourtfarm]

I would say genuine

Probably but you see such stupid things posted by some youngsters now just for likes.

 

[Spud]

Yes but pretty much every other industries has its own form of deadline. Lack of profit is no excuse. In my opinion.

Much easier to say from the comfort of a guarunteed salary Rob, in fairness.

 

[Spud]

a few I know of are dogs in cabs, that’s not about money, it’s just stupid

surely these are the easy accidents to prevent ?

The most tragic and arguably most avoidable deaths are of young kids and elderly people. The 'it'll be ok' mindset must stop

 

[Spud]

The big bags I agree with, I’m in process of making a drill filler with an auger, two springs ago I was about to load a ton bag of spring wheat, brand new bag, and the side webbing on one side hoop went just as I got out of the JCB, I was 30 seconds away from heading up the steps and being underneath it! Trouble is, now they don’t want you to reuse them I think they have reduced the quantity, to save money of course, can’t win. And the top part of the hoop wasn’t damaged before anyone says, and I use a bag lifter, not tines.

The bag manufacturers need to step up to the plate, because that shouldn'thappen with new bags and a bag lifter. I see far too many folk carrying 4 bags on new pallet tines though, not good.
Improvements, not bans are the way forward.

 

[Spud]

so maybe we need rules that MAKE us stop .? Hence my suggestion re max working hours in a 48hr period and 1 mandatory day off per week ?

48hr max working week doesn't guaruntee rested staff. I enforce a maximum 14hr day come hell or high water, but find that if we all stop for a day, everyone is somehow more knackered for 3 days after than if we carry on straight through to the end of the season 7 days a week. Arguably 12hrs/day max would be better than 14, but we have to work with the weather.
Manimising daylight hours makes a big difference. Lifting spuds tractor men run 6am to 7 or occasionally 8pm. Grading staff do 8am to 6pm. Seems to work well.
Combining we'll run 7am to 9pm. Very rare for us to run past 10pm, and even rarer past midnight, but I see plenty of heros combining half the night.

 

[Spud]

Sorry I disagree , look at the stats of who is actually dying in ag. It’s the 50-70 year olds that should know better. They have “common sense “ we can’t keep saying it’s down to money. Very poor excuse

Look at overturned tractors on roads, its not the over 60's usually, its the under 30's. Ban 50k tractors and enforce the weight limits, that would improve safety no end.

 

[Spud]

we only work 5 days apart from harvest and autumn drilling

not religious, just trying to maintain good work / life balance. Small team but we always get the work done in good time

would love to run a business where we didn’t work weekends at harvest either, something we are working towards in the future

not possible for livestock guys i do understand but perfectly possible for any arable farm

maybe livestock could aim and get set up to just do “bare minimum” at weekends ?

How many hours do your staff work at harvest and drilling Clive? On a combinable arable farm most of your work is in a 10 week window.

You're not too tuned to farming outside combinable ag it seems. Potato & veg customers need a 7 day supply all year, which means we often have to load on a weekend. This can't be avoided, but I do insist to customers that we'll load Saturday or Sunday, but not both in the same week. Only work 7 day weeks potato harvesting, comining and sometimes planting spuds. Routine stockwork and irrigation have to be 7 days, which basically means I do it on the 7th day.

 

[tr250]

Just seen this on Twitter, lucky I would say.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1380220911199076358

My mums cousin did the same thing a couple of years ago apart from he’d had a heart attack and was dead. He’d been round the field twice over the road through a few fences and stopped when he hit a shed

 

[Cowmansam]

yes, I use them all the time for seed

but I’ve assessed my risk & consider the bags & my loader safe & I don’t walk under them or put myself in a position where I may be crushed or trapped

I was just responding to others concerns - if they don’t think they are safe, then don’t use them or change the way you do use them. Simple

What are the accident figures like in oz Roy ?would imagine there’s a lot of solo working miles from anywhere over there

 

[Ffermer Bach]

What are the accident figures like in oz Roy ?would imagine there’s a lot of solo working miles from anywhere over there

when I was out there (admittedly 30 plus years ago), a man came to clean and dress the seed (Munglanup WA), then when home came back two days later to finish, and he looked worn out, I asked him how come, and he said he had been working non stop on planting since he left! I was told he was a "hard doer"!!!

 

[Spud]

Another thing that's required in my opinion is a gated farm entrance so you can control and know who is entering the farm workplace and make them aware of hazards.

Always lorries and delivery drivers coming and going nowadays.

How many farms can justify a gate man? A camera and sign board ouight to be sufficient. You cannot increaase common sense by increasing legislation

 

[Spud]

I've got one of the big bag openers that are on the Yara rewards gift list, it's telescopic (out to about 1m) so lives in the cab when needed and is the sharpest tools I have ever used, cuts through the layers of plastic and stitched seams in the bottom of a bag like butter. Not sure if you can buy them elsewhere but can't recommend it enough

You keep a long sharp knife in the cab with you? riiighht.....

 

[Spud]

[


i would be happy to see the higher speed and heavier stuff require mot and even additional licenses

as you say its no much different to trucks and they do require this so why are farms different ? - no logic there really !

So you would put student tractor drivers through tests pre harvest? If people stuck to the weights and serviced things properly, there'd be a lot less accidents.

 

[ollie989898]

I sent steam of contractors away from here until they'd fixed their PTO guard. Lost them day's work, but no one died. Turns out, there is time to do the job safely.

To be honest, if more farmers started insisting that machines had complete guards, lights and they knocked the dung off the machines before leaving, it would sharpen up the contracting game a lot. Ditto 'keep her lit' drivers.

 

[ollie989898]

So you would put student tractor drivers through tests pre harvest? If people stuck to the weights and serviced things properly, there'd be a lot less accidents.

I've known farms ask students to demonstrate how to hitch up trailers/implements and reverse into grain stores etc. Also take for a run on the road etc whilst boss follows or is in passenger seat.

 

[Spud]

no idea, there have been several similar over the years - it’s a fast road, a grain trailer looks like the back of any other truck but a 55mph lorry closes on a tractor VERY quickly if its doing legal tractor speeds

one I recall the most was not fatal but the drivers arm got trapped between the cab b post and road as the tractor slid on its side i believe he lost his arm

notably most such accidents locally over the years seem to be older, slower tractors 40kph or less max as far as i can tell

I've seen many more overturned maize and potato trailers of 16-18t size on big Fendts, usually on roundabouts, often in Herefordshire for some reason. Spped, weight, and failing to read the road ahead the likely cause. You're just trying to justify tanking on at 55kph+ when the legal limit is 40kph.

 

[Will 1594]

Much easier to say from the comfort of a guarunteed salary Rob, in fairness.

Don’t upset him too much spud he will get all sulky

 

[Clive]

I've seen many more overturned maize and potato trailers of 16-18t size on big Fendts, usually on roundabouts, often in Herefordshire for some reason. Spped, weight, and failing to read the road ahead the likely cause. You're just trying to justify tanking on at 55kph+ when the legal limit is 40kph.

We have done this debate before and its rather tiresome

On many of the roads we use, lower speeds are dangerous, several VERY nasty rear-end accidents confirm this as does the common sense approach taken by the police on such roads


You couldn't pay be any amount to drive our JCB loadall with 18mph top speed down the A38 locally, it would be a VERY dangerous (but legal) thing to do

Speed should be safely appropriate to the situation, we operate in a situation where the average speed is basically motorway speed, would you feel comfortable driving at 18mph on the M6 ? maybe try it next time you are on a motorway in a car and see what feels safer ? 70mph or 20mph



in more rural areas with less dual carriageways and fast traffic then a different approach maybe more suitable, different circumstances require different approaches

 

[Clive]

So you would put student tractor drivers through tests pre harvest? If people stuck to the weights and serviced things properly, there'd be a lot less accidents.

Yes, I think it's crazy the way things are right now, and hard to justify on the heavier and faster farm kit vs the regulation that hauliers have to comply with

Something has to be done about UK ags shocking safety record, lots of talk but very little;le action and meanwhile people are getting killed

 

[Clive]

Much easier to say from the comfort of a guarunteed salary Rob, in fairness.

..................... bit like a BPS cheque really then ? there is a saying about glasshoues