Farm Safety Week: the dangers of working with livestock

Farm Safety Week: the dangers of working with livestock
Farm Safety Week: the dangers of working with livestock Credit: ITV News Meridian

Chances are if you know a farmer, you'll know someone who's been injured or narrowly avoided an injury at work. 

Now one farmer is using Farm Safety Week to call on fellow workers to learn from their near misses.

  • Report by ITV News Meridian's Abigail Bracken:

Working with livestock like these that weigh one tonne each and are unpredictable, along with heavy machinery and lone working, makes farming a dangerous job. 

Which is why at the start of Farm Safety Week, this farmer from Throwley near Faversham, wants others to learn from mistakes.

  • Lynsey Martin, Livestock farmer:

Only a small fraction of the British population works in farming and yet last year, it accounted for around 1/5th of all deaths at work.

Only a small fraction of the British population works in farming Credit: ITV News Meridian

Agriculture continues to have the highest rate of deaths across all sectors, but there has been a drop in the number of deaths in farming. 

There has been a drop in the number of deaths in farming Credit: ITV News Meridian

Two years ago a farmer was crushed to death by his own cattle in Groombridge in Kent. He was 64, and it's this older age-group that is most at risk.

To stop their luck from running out, farm safety week wants all farmers to take safety seriously.