Nine out of ten farming injuries are not reported

The vast majority of accidents suffered by workers on farms are never reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), according to a survey published by the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW).

While 40% of farmers reported that they had been injured while working, almost 90% of these said they did not report it to the HSE.

Among those failing to report accidents, 56% said this was because they considered the accident to be too minor, while a further 25% considered the process of filling in forms to be too bureaucratic.

FUW President Gareth Vaughan said the union would work with the HSE to address the issues raised by the survey. One matter of long-standing concern, he said, was the number of injuries suffered by farmers while cattle clipping.

“We have raised this issue a number of times with the government, because we believe this is a dangerous procedure which results in injuries to farmers,” Vaughan noted. “But the response we have always had is that there are no statistics to back up our claims. I hope that this survey will be the starting point for more detailed research to find out exactly how the injuries were caused.”

The majority (56%) of incidents reported in the survey were caused by a kick or bite from an animal. Just over 15% of respondents said they had been hurt through a stumble or fall, and 12% reported being injured by machinery.