FARMERS ARE being encouraged to look to the aviation industry for inspiration on how to improve health and safety on the farm.

A regularly revisited topic but an important one, as cases of farm related injuries continue to exceed other industries with the latest figures showing that you are seven times more likely to die working on a farm than on a construction site.

Part of the problem lies in complacency, with some farmers choosing to brush off basic health and safety measures putting themselves and others at risk in the process.

Dr Amy Irwin is a psychology lecturer at the University of Aberdeen and has been leading research over the past five years on how to improve on-farm safety. She has helped to design a new safety checklist, similar in premise to those used by airline pilots, surgeons and paramedics, which she hopes will change the way farmers think about safety.

“Most accidents on the farm involve things like being entangled in machinery, knocked over by a vehicle and in cases trampled by a cow – it’s a hazardous industry to be part of,” Dr Irwin stressed.

“We have found from looking at aviation, that critical skills such as team work, leadership and situation awareness aren’t always adopted on the farm – there is no training in these areas. We hope by changing a few behaviours we can hopefully make farming more safe and more effective and have created a pocket guide for farmers on procedures they should run through, no matter how often they carry out the same task.”

Checklists were brought in for airline pilots after a series of fatal incidents in the 1970’s which were attributed to a failure in non-technical skills, i.e. the pilots were competent at flying but became complacent and made silly decisions. A similar situation has been likened to the farming industry prompting for similar action to be taken to reverse farming’s poor health and safety record.

This checklist contains a run through of checks for tractors including the likes of ensuring clear visibility and effective lights.

Dr Irwin continued: “Farmers are a hardy bunch and tend to continue farming when they are tired. An important element of this pocket guide is to check yourself for stress or fatigue and to identify how that might influence your safety operating this type of machinery.”

Peter Robinson runs a mixed farm near Peterhead where health and safety has always been paramount to his operation: “There were a couple of local accidents where people were killed and we decided that was to do with visibility, so now every day we wear high vis on the farm. We have been using the checklist for the last fortnight and although staff on the farm do a lot of these things unconsciously, it is good to have another tool to keep the health and safety relevant and vibrant on the farm."

NFU Scotland chief executive Scott Walker said: “The tractor checklist helps farmers and crofters be aware of the risks they face as they go about their routine work. Following a check list works in other industries and it can work for us. What Aberdeen University has developed has the potential to reduce accidents. Everyone should adopt this as part of their regular routine.”