Fatal injuries in agriculture, forestry and fishing 2019/2020
The Health and Safety Executive has released its 2019/2020 report on fatal injuries in the UK agriculture, forestry and fishing industry sector.
The HSE report attempts to bring more awareness to what is, by most measures, the most dangerous industry in the UK.
We wanted to help bring this important information into the limelight so we have provided a series of infographics posters for you to download for free.
#1 Causes of Fatal Injury
Between 2015/16 and 2019/20, there were 151 fatal injuries in Agriculture.
Of those deaths:
43 (28%) were killed by vehicles
24 (16%) were killed by animals
22 (15%) were killed by falling from height
16 (11%) were killed when struck by objects
16 (11%) were killed when trapped by something collapsing
10 (7%) were killed by contact with machinery
8 (5%) were killed by asphyxiation/ drowning
7 (5%) were killed by contact with electricity
5 (3%) were killed by other causes
2019/2020 actually recorded the lowest number of deaths recorded in the last 5 years, with 21 deaths.
#2 Age of workers killed in agriculture
In 2019/2020, workers over 55 accounted for 50% of all fatal injuries in agriculture.
This isn’t an anomaly, over the last five years, the fatal injury rate is nearly 6 times higher for those aged 65 and older.
When making a risk assessment for your agricultural staff, you should take into account higher risks for older people and attempt to mitigate the dangers wherever possible.
#3 Agricultural fatalities by employment status
Over the last five years, self-employed people accounted for twice as man agricultural deaths as employed.
In fact, self-employed workers accounted for nearly 60% of fatalities, as opposed to 31% for employees and 11% for the public.
Agriculture can certainly be dangerous for the public, with 17 deaths in the last 5 years –6 of which were children.
Remember that you don’t just have a moral duty to those working on or visiting your farm, but also a legal duty. Again, consider all types of workers when drafting a risk assessment and make sure that your self-employed workers really are self-employed.
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