Farm deaths fall to lowest level on record

Mr Roberts said: “Last year we lost too many of our family, friends and colleagues in the workplace – one fatality is too many.

“For the past few years we have seen many in the industry consciously prioritising health and safety and I hope these figures indicate the start of a downward trend which is underpinned by a culture change in the agriculture sector.

“There will be variations year-on-year and we need to see longer term sustained improvement before we can say that farm safety has fundamentally changed.”

Safety record

NFU Scotland vice-president Charlie Adam, who represents NFU Scotland on the Farm Safety Partnership, praised farmers, the Farm Safety Partnership, HSE and the Yellow Wellies Foundation for all their work to help improve agriculture’s safety record.

Mr Adam said: “NFU Scotland has continued to work with both HSE and Yellow Wellies to provide our members with the best possible advice and guidance to keep themselves, their workforce and their families safe on-farm.

“There are still too many farm related deaths every year and it is important that we as an industry continue to work on our safety record.”