BEING safe on farm and reducing the high level of life changing incidents should be a priority for all who live and set foot on farm holdings.

In the last 10 years, 388 farmers, their family members or farm workers have been killed on British farms and of these, 38 were in Wales.

Since the start of the year, 30 people have been killed on farms across the UK and three out of the last four of those deaths were caused by cattle.

Sadly on average, two workers are killed and over 100 injured each year by cattle and there are also large numbers of minor incidents and near misses that we do not hear about and many serious accidents are not reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Of course, handling cattle always involves a risk of injury from crushing, kicking, butting or goring and the risk is greater if the animals have not been handled frequently, such as those from hills or moorland, sucklers or newly calved cattle.

Certain jobs may increase the risk as well, such as veterinary work and attempting to carry out stock tasks on unrestrained cattle or with makeshift equipment is particularly hazardous.

Advice from HSE suggests that sensible health and safety is about managing risks, not eliminating them, which is why they argue that every farm that handles cattle should have a decent handling system.

HSE research indicates that 47 per cent of injuries are due to inadequate facilities.

Of course, collecting pens, the forcing pen and race should be designed to promote cattle movement while protecting workers from crushing.

Further good practice ensures gates being properly hung so that they can opened fully against a pen wall and it is suggested that round posts are best, with hinges and other protrusions minimised.

But, even with all of the best advice and intentions, given the latest examples of farm fatalities, I urge you - please never underestimate the risk from cattle, even with good precautions in place and be safe on farm.

GLYN ROBERTS

FUW president