Alice Bathard (FCG WhiteAvon)

Farm Safety Week has recently just passed, and I think this year the social media presence was so large, I would be shocked if anyone didn’t know it was farm safety week. As a compliance consultant, one of the main aspects of my job is health and safety and risk management on farms and other rural businesses. I could talk a lot about health and safety, but I think we need to look at why we have farm safety week and what we need to take away from it.

Making changes

We probably see posts all over social media and think “oh it’s farm safety week”, but how many farmers read or watch the content, and actively think “I need to make changes” or “I need to be safer”?

It can seem overwhelming with so many things we need to do to be safer, and so overwhelming that we may forget it and not actually make those changes. So how can we make it easier to make changes to be safer on farm? Make it simple and make it easy.

Make it simple

Making changes for safety doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some examples…

These little things do not take much time (and are relatively inexpensive), but they can make such a huge difference when an accident occurs, and you were glad you took the time to wear the goggles or take your phone with you.

Make it easy

I am also a firm believer that if you want something done, make it easy. Make everything easy in advance to stop people cutting corners to make it quicker. For example…

There seems to be a particular mindset around health and safety in agriculture along the lines of “it won’t happen to me”. But one day it might, and that day you will wish you wore the goggles or the helmet, because it could save your life.

Contact Alice at alicebathard@fcgagric.com to arrange a Health and safety audit and make your farm business a safer working environment for you, your family and employees.