Have a safe harvest!
Cenric Clement-Evans, Partner and Head of Workplace
Accidents and Injury, discusses the dangers of our Harvest
season and the importance of taking the proper safety
requirements.
04 I 08 I 10
Being a personal injury
lawyer is never dull! I have learnt so much over the years about
the work of a huge variety of people working in all sorts of
different industries. Of late I seem to be learning more and more
about farming. I was reflecting on this very recently as I was
having a good look inside the mouth of a lamb and learning more
than I previously had ever thought necessary about a sheep’s
teeth!
Over what is now becoming a long career, I have seen a considerable
improvement in health and safety in the workplace, with a
consequent and very welcome reduction in people being injured. It
is sad to learn therefore, according to the latest
HSE statistics that whilst the number of people fatally
injured at work fell to a record low last year, the reverse has
happened in agriculture. Tragically 38 workers died on farms last
year, in an industry recognised by the HSE as “the most dangerous
industry in Britain”. This is a sizeable increase from the previous
year when there were still as many as 25 deaths in agriculture,
apparently a record low, hardly a statistic to be proud of.
It is astonishing to learn that
whilst around 2000 injuries on average in agriculture each year are
reported to HSE, many more go unreported. The HSE believe that only
40% of the most serious injuries are reported and there could be as
many as 10,000 unreported injuries in agriculture. How dangerous
the industry is can be seen from the fact that less than 1.5% of
the working population is employed in agriculture yet between 15%
and 20% of fatalities to workers each year. I wonder whether such
statistics would be tolerated in any other industry.
Here in Wales with the advent of
harvest season NFU Cymru is urging farmers to ensure machinery is
properly maintained and to carry
out operations safely. The majority of fatal accidents at work
are caused by falls and recently I have been instructed by a client
who was extraordinarily fortunate to have survived when he was
tipped out of the basket of the mobile elevated platform he was
working from, falling over 20’ to the ground below. Lack of
maintenance was the cause!
In another case I act for a client
who fell 4 metres into a pit being excavated for horse manure
because simple guarding precautions hadn’t been taken. He was also
very lucky to have survived. Another of my clients was injured when
his ladder slipped as he was working on a farm building causing him
to fall from a height and suffer life changing wrist and abdominal
injuries. Injuries from work at height are sadly all too common in
farming.
Our experience at Hugh James in
cases with an agricultural connection are extremely varied, ranging
from the dairy man crushed by the cow he was separating for
artificial insemination, to the 17 year old who whilst operating a
chainsaw suffered a “kick-back” injury to his face through lack of
training and supervision. For both men the consequences could have
been considerably worse.
A client injured as a result of
contracting Weil’s disease and another who suffered an amputation
injury whilst operating a harvesting machine have had their lives
permanently changed as a result of their injuries.
The impact of any accident is hard
to measure. The consequences in personal terms for an individual
and his family can be devastating and permanent. There is often the
personal effect upon the small family businesses and communities
where the injury occurred. This is before you start to consider the
financial effects upon the farm including from lost time,
replacement wages, investigation costs and increased insurance
premiums.
The cost of any accident especially
at this time of year can be considerable. As for the looking into
the mouth of a sheep, I am discovering a lot about the effects of
diseases such as Orf that can be contracted by contact with farm
animals. Good hygiene is of course essential as I never cease
to remind my own children! As I head off for my holidays in the
idyllic setting of rural Wales, I will take more note this year of
all the hard work going on all around, usually unnoticed by a city
dweller like me, now being far more aware that the countryside is
rather a dangerous place to be!