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Rural farming health and safety

Health & Safety Update | July 2018

Q2 2018

Harvest and haymaking should be underway by the end of the month and some will be thinking about third cut silage. At busy times of year, everyone works under heightened stress levels and are frequently more tired than usual which is when accidents can happen.

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Welcome to Strutt & Parker’s Farm Research Group Health & Safety Update. The quarterly Health & Safety Update is to assist you in ensuring that you are thinking about topical health and safety matters on your farm and/or estate. Health and safety is a vital part of any business operation.

Harvest and haymaking should be underway by the end of the month and some will be thinking about third cut silage. At busy times of year, everyone works under heightened stress levels and are frequently more tired than usual which is when accidents can happen.

For further assistance or information on the issues discussed below, please call your nearest Strutt & Parker office.

Health & Safety Briefings

Providing regular health and safety updates for your employees is an important element of being a responsible employer and is a requirement of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.

Briefings may take a number of formats, from a 15 minute ‘toolbox talk’ to a more formal briefing. It is important to keep them practical and relevant to the type of work your employees undertake and use real examples to emphasise the impact that an accident can have not only on the person involved but also those around them and in the wider community. Safety meetings and toolbox talks are a useful way of building a strong safety culture and reinforcing your commitment to protecting your employees. Holding regular safety meetings and toolbox talks can prevent employees from getting complacent and taking safety for granted.

A good time to carry out a health and safety briefing is prior to harvest, when additional employees are taken on, who will be unfamiliar with the general workings of a business. It is important to incorporate all employees as they provide a good reminder to all, and can help reduce complacency on safety in the work place.

In this edition, we also cover:

  • Young people and children on farms
  • Overhead cables
  • Combining
  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  • Working at height

Click to download the July 2018 Health & Safety Update