National Grid issues safety message on Farm Safety Week

Farm Safety Week, an annual campaign led by the Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies), aims to raise awareness of the dangers of working in farming. It runs until Friday, July 26. 

The 2024 campaign marks 10 years of the Farm Safety Foundation - a charity set up by NFU Mutual. 

Stephanie Berkeley, who manages the charity, said: “Ten years have passed quickly and we are proud of what we have achieved but there is so much more to be done to address the massive challenges we have in the industry.

"Attitudes and behaviours around farm safety and mental health are changing but the pace of change is slow – too slow for the families of those we have lost in the industry and too slow for the thousands of farmers suffering every day with long term ill-health, serious injuries or poor mental health.”

For more information on Farm Safety Week visit www.yellowwellies.org or follow @yellowwelliesUK on social media. 

National Grid Electricity Distribution, the electricity operator for the midlands, south west and south Wales, has said that at least one agricultural incident involving overhead power lines is reported every day in the UK. 

One of the examples they have given, is when a tractor trailer hit an electricity line pole near Whimple in Devon. 

According to National Grid, the tractor driver did not realise he had clipped the pole with his trailer and continued dragging it for another six meters until it came down on top of him, with a steel cross arm penetrating the cab roof.

They explained that the driver escaped uninjured by jumping clear of the vehicle and taking leaping strides to safety - a technique he learnt on a farm safety course. 

Paul Woodward, safety manager for National Grid Electricity Distribution, said: “Every year, our engineers and technicians are called to incidents involving farming equipment and overhead power lines.

“Accidents involving the electricity supply can have devastating consequences, so it’s really important that farmers ‘look out’ and ‘look up’ – particularly when working with big or heavy machinery.

“We are committed to ensuring that farm workers have the knowledge and resources they need to get home safe every day, and will continue to work with farming communities in Cornwall and across the country to reduce incidents involving our power lines.”

National Grid has issued the following advice: 

• If contact is made with a power line, farm workers are advised to stay in the cab and try to drive clear. If that is not possible, the driver should stay in the cab and telephone 105, only leaving the machine in an emergency.
• When leaving the vehicle, they should take care not to hold the machine and touch the ground at the same time, and take leaping strides so one foot is clear from the ground at all times – or “bunny hop” away with both feet kept together.
• Farmers are also encouraged to use the “What3Words” app, which allows farmers to pinpoint the exact location of an incident. This means that network engineers can isolate the power in seconds using remote technology, therefore reducing the risk of accidents and threat to life.