When going gets tough, the tough get risk assessing

That was the fear expressed by a panel of farm safety commentators at a webinar during last week’s 2025 Farm Safety Week. The webinar was hosted by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and chaired by its President-Elect, Richard Bate.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing has a fatality rate 22 times the average UK all-industry rate for the past five years. A total of 11,000 people were seriously injured on British farms in 2023/24. The sector only accounts for one percent of Britain’s workforce, yet it claims around 20 per cent of all worker fatalities.

But, if a period of business stability were needed to encourage better attitudes to risk management and sounder health and safety practices on our farms, it doesn’t appear to be coming anytime soon.

Webinar panellist Olivia Barrett, a risk management consultant with NFU Mutual, highlighted recent cost rises. For example, animal feed, fuel, power and straw, have gone from 38 per cent to 50 per cent of farmers’ total costs. This is when competitive markets have meant farm prices haven’t been allowed to accommodate this rise in overheads.

Challenging

Furthermore, a challenging climate putting pressure on land use and resulting in low crop yields has done nothing to ease the situation.

And with so many farms tempted to cut labour costs to make savings, “this has forced many farm workers into working even longer hours, causing fatigue,” pointed out fellow panellist Mike Whiting, a farming consultant and chair of the IOSH Rural Industries community. This, in turn, leads to more accidents, more injuries (or worse), greater isolation and loneliness and harm to farmers’ mental health.

Other factors such as the rise in inheritance tax and employers’ national insurance have proved additional burdens.

A lot of farms have had to diversify into other activities, particularly tourism and leisure. So, it’s all built up to a perfect storm for farmers and farm businesses. Pressed by these tough economic realities, they can sometimes neglect the need to adopt sound risk management.

These were the views given by panellists at the IOSH webinar. Alex Phillimore, from the Farming Community Network, said: “Farming, what farmers are passionate about and is in their blood, isn’t paying the bills anymore. They’re often generating more income by diversifying into profitable tourism/leisure activity, such as glamping and providing self-serve ice cream, for example, when what they really want to do is be farmers.

“And, sadly, for farmers challenged by these increasingly demanding business pressures, health and safety may not always be front of mind because it’s not their priority,” he added.

Better attitude

Stephanie Berkeley manages the Farm Safety Foundation, which runs Farm Safety Week and the Yellow Wellies initiative. Stephanie saw the decrease in farm fatalities from 27 last year to 23 as “a small shift but a meaningful one.” She said she believed her organisation’s extensive educational work with students at land-based colleges and universities was beginning to bear fruit. Young recruits now come to the farming industry with a better attitude towards safety.

“Most farmers know what they should be doing when it comes to working safely,” Stephanie told the webinar. “It’s just those gentle reminders that are needed, including telling the farmers that they themselves really matter, that they are the most important asset on the farm.”

As chair, Richard Bate commented that “the need for collaborative, meaningful conversations and change on farm safety has rarely been more urgent,” saying “I promise you, at IOSH, we’re listening.

“Farmers are unquestionably under a lot of pressure but they too must listen; they need to consider how good health and safety practice, by helping them avoid all the expense that comes with workplace accidents – the prosecutions, fines and legal costs, not to say the reputational damage – is worth more than its weight in gold.

“Watch this space for plenty more from me on this critical issue during my IOSH Presidential year, starting in November.”