The National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC) has produced new stickers to visually remind everyone in the industry to take care and stay safe.
The ‘I am vital to UK Agriculture – Stay Safe’ sticker campaign is aiming to prompt more thinking about safety and remind everyone to act, whether that is always wearing a helmet when riding a quad bike, making sure PTO guards are always in place or perhaps switching off a machine before clearing a blockage.
The NAAC is asking its contractor members and the wider farming community to join forces and remind each other that we are all vital by placing stickers in prominent places.
“It is all too easy when under pressure to think that health and safety is all about paperwork and hassle,” comments Jill Hewitt, NAAC CEO. “However, the number of fatal and serious incidents in farming continues to remain stubbornly high and the NAAC wants to visually remind everyone to protect themselves and colleagues.”
The number of farm deaths are down from the high 30s per year from 2016 to 2019, but 23 deaths occurred on UK farms in 2023/2024. “The agricultural sector has the worst rate of worker fatal injury (per 100,000 workers) of all the main industry sectors in the UK, with the annual average injury rate over the last five years around 21 times as high as the all-industry rate.”
“This is shocking,” comments Jill. “It would be amazing to think that the message is hitting home but already in the first month of reporting in 2025 (April) four deaths were notified. A farmer was killed when an ATV overturned, a child was killed when struck by an excavator bucket, a farmer was killed when he was struck by a bale that fell from a trailer and another was killed when the crop sprayer he was cleaning rolled backwards.”
“We urge everyone to use these stickers as a heads up to take that extra time to make sure a job is done safely and get everyone home to their families at the end of the day.”
There will be a social media campaign to promote the stickers, which will be available from the NAAC stand at next month’s Cereals event.
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