NFYFC is encouraging all its clubs to promote safer working practices on farms – not just during Farm Safety Week, but all year round. The week serves as an important reminder to prioritise safety and well-being on the farm.
Farm Safety Week is an annual awareness-raising campaign organised by The Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies). Now in its 13th year, the campaign is asking why farming is still unlucky for some.
Farming has the poorest safety record of any occupation in the UK and Ireland. Working with animals, machinery and moving vehicles are the key contributors to the majority of fatal injuries on farm.
Working with The Farm Safety Foundation, NFYFC has developed two workshops for clubs to deliver during club meetings that are focused on being safe on farm. The Farm Safety workshop raises awareness about the hazards on farm while the Minding Your Head workshop focuses on wellbeing in farming and the importance of looking after your mental health.
NFYFC also organises its annual Farm Machinery Skills competition, which first launched in 2002 and was this year supported by Kramp.
It challenges YFC members to demonstrate their knowledge of farm machinery and its safe operation, as well as their first aid skills.
This year Pembrokeshire Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs won the competition for the eleventh time and one of its members William Lewis also won the ATV Handling Trophy.
The winning Pembrokeshire team fought off three other county teams in the final to win the trophy and won a KRAMP toolkit each and a JCB VIP hospitality tour round the world headquarters in Staffordshire.
Pembrokeshire member Rhys Bevan has been part of the winning team seven times and believes the competition holds great value.
“It’s one of the most important competitions for us. Not only does it give you the background of the farm machinery and using it all safely but the first aid as well. It’s genuinely one of the competitions that could save a life.”
Arley Medical Services created the realistic farm accident, which was based on a real-life example.
Cam Bliss from Arley Medical said: “We've been involved with the competition for around ten years now. And seeing the interest and engagement from young farmers develop over that time and the skill set that they've learned over that time develop as well has been really impressive.
“Knowing how to keep yourself safe, knowing how to get your family safe and your friends safe and deal with accidents and instances as they occur is particularly important in those rural areas.
“There are certain things that we could still learn, I think, in farming around the kit that we have available, the first aid kits we have in tractors.
“But, knowing where our field locations are, knowing the What3Words references for gateways to guide ambulances into rural locations really quickly – all of that sort of thing – it's been really impressive to see those areas come on.”
For more information about the workshops, visit here. For more information about the Farm Machinery Skills competition visit here.
