1. Farm health and safety policy: Risk assessments
Carrying out risk assessments across your business help identify potential hazards. A good risk assessment should be the result of a thorough review and evaluation of the risks present during daily business activities.
This process enables you to consider, recommend and implement control measures that improve the safety of the working environment for yourself, employees and members of the public.
Several different risk assessments are needed to cover the activities related to your business. Select an activity, then think about the risks you need to guard against. Examples of activities include:
- Using tractors, farm vehicles and other farm machinery
- Handling livestock
- Farmyard and buildings/working at heights
- Handling and using chemicals
Use the Cornish Mutual Farm Health and Safety Guide risk assessment template, when completing a risk assessment.
2. Farm health and safety policy: Equipment inspection
Depending on the equipment’s complexity, difficulty to use and risk of injury, inspections range from a quick visual check to a full mechanical, diagnostic and functional inspection.
The frequency of inspections is influenced by several factors, such as how often it is used, but as a minimum, always follow the manufacturer’s guidance.
Use the Cornish Mutual Farm Health and Safety Guide equipment inspection checklist to help record your inspections.
3. Farm health and safety policy: Incident reporting
All incidents resulting in injury or a near injury (‘near miss’), however minor, must be recorded in an incident report form. Minor injuries can act as a warning sign and prevent more severe injuries or may deteriorate over time and become more serious.
The incident report form is a document kept for your own records and does not need to be sent to the HSE but can help determine the cause of an incident and assist in implementing measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring.
It can also spot trends in incidents so measures can be taken to prevent them and help investigate and defend claims if the injured person makes a claim against you.
In the event of an insurance claim, a report form might be required months or even years after the incident, so a clear description of what happened, and its cause, must be retained.
Use the Cornish Mutual Farm Health and Safety Guide incident report form template to help record any incidents.
RIDDOR Report
In circumstances where a RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013) report is required, it can be completed and returned to the HSE online. Visit the HSE website for guidance.
Examples of incidents requiring a RIDDOR report include: deaths to workers and non-workers, fractures (excluding fingers, thumbs and toes), amputations, injuries likely to lead to a reduction or permanent loss of sight, any crush injury to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or internal organs, serious burns, any loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia. Visit the HSE website for more details.
4. Farm health and safety policy: Training
Your employees must be given all the resources they require to carry out their roles in the safest possible manner. Training needs to be relevant to employees’ work and any risks they face.
Risk assessments help identify high-risk equipment or tasks requiring specialist training and/or qualifications, but common examples include: handling livestock, using farm machinery, carrying out activities involving manual handling, working at height and confined spaces, using equipment such as power tools, fixed machinery or working with hazardous substances.
If you do not train your employees to work safely and they are injured as a result, this failure can be used to claim against you for damages and/or used by the HSE to prosecute you.
Even if an employee is experienced in a specific task or using a piece of equipment, if an incident occurs a Court will expect you to have provided training, or at the very least, have satisfied yourself they can work safely.
Use the Cornish Mutual Farm Health and Safety Guide employee training checklist to help record training completed.
Creating a farm health and safety policy document
Once you have been through each of the areas above, you are ready to complete your health and safety policy document. It sets out your plan for protecting employees and visitors and shows how your health and safety policy will be implemented.
Use the Cornish Mutual Farm Health and Safety Policy template to complete your policy document.
The template includes examples of health and safety policy statements, which form the basis of your commitment to provide a safe and secure workplace.
It also outlines additional workplace safety information such as individual responsibilities (including nominated first aiders), the location of the first aid box and accident book, details of the nearest hospital and a reminder to display the HSE health and safety poster, available from the HSE website.
Your Health and Safety Policy should be reviewed annually by a responsible individual. If any revisions are made, record the date of these revisions in the ‘Revision date(s)’ section of the policy document. If no changes are made, simply add the date of the policy’s review in the ‘Review date(s)’ section.
This information is intended to give you the basic resources for the foundation of health and safety in your business. While we aren’t completing these templates for you, we are helping you understanding the potential risks and supporting you to make your farm safer.
Cornish Mutual’s Health and Safety Team
If you would like to talk to someone directly about health and safety on your farm and receive additional support completing and implementing your farm health and safety policy, we offer a comprehensive farm health and safety service
To find out more email lossprevention@cornishmutual.co.uk, call 01872 277151 or speak to your local Field Advisor.
