The following comes from The strategy for farming and food: Facing the Future
"Safety at work
A lack of adequate training is one of the factors which contributes to agriculture having the worst fatal injury rate of any broad employment sector - on average, one fatal accident a week. This represents an avoidable human tragedy. In addition, over 100,000 working days are lost a year as a result of accidents in the agricultural sector, costing the British economy around £130 million. The agriculture industry has been identified by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as one of eight priority areas where improvements are required if the national targets are to be met. The HSE will work with the industry to embed health and safety into their education and training, influence standards for safety and design of machinery and maximise the effective and efficient use of public resources."
H&S
Skills Development
The HSE are working with the land-based industry, both managers and
trade unions, through their Working
Group "Health in Agriculture'. Various parties, including awarding
bodies, are working together to develop competence based provision for
health and safety skills. They are using existing National Occupational
Standards to develop provision for small companies, such as farms and
small holdings. The aim is to improve the competence of people in improving
the health and safety culture in land-based industry.
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