Come Home Safe

John Sones looks further into safety on the holding

- John Sones

Safety of visitors on the smallholding is very important and I looked into this in my article in the last issue. Being safe especially when working alone is also very important for the individual smallholder and in this article I am going to look at some of the risks for them and how they can be minimised.

If you look on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website, there are yearly statistics for people killed and injured in agriculture which has a continuing poor record. It is easy to assume that these figures only relate to large scale operations but many of the risks are also present on smallholdings. As examples, within our own society I know of one person who was using a post knocker and not using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when it rebounded hitting his head and briefly knocked him out. Another person was working on a piece of machinery when it slipped and trapped him against the barn wall.

Two of the most important things particularly when working alone are to have with you a means of contacting someone in an emergency and also letting someone know where you will be working and what time to expect you back. It is also good practice to carry a First Aid kit with you. You may wish to undergo basic first aid training and as well as recognised organisations like St John Ambulance running these courses, you may also find a sporting organisation near you that organises them. An average price for a basic one is around £30.

The risks to visitors highlighted in my previous article i.e. injury from machinery, animals or the general terrain and catching infections from animals are the same for the smallholder.