Britain’s biggest farming company, Co-operative Farms, has signed up to support the HSE’s campaign to reduce deaths and injuries in agriculture.
The company has agreed to become a ‘Promise Partner’ for the ‘Make the Promise. Come home safe’ initiative, which urges farmers to think about the risks they face in their job so they can come home safe to their families.
Agriculture is one of the one most dangerous occupations and has recorded proportionately more deaths than in any other sector. The latest figures published by the HSE, show that 38 British agricultural workers died between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010.
The Co-operative Farms manages over 20k hectares from 16 bases across the UK, growing and producing a range of vegetables, fruit and cereals. It is one of the biggest farming businesses to become a Promise Partner. The company’s managing director, Christine Tacon, said: “Make the Promise encourages farmers to think about the actions they are taking on the farm when they are very busy and urges them not to cut corners in order to complete a job.€ﾨ
€ﾨ“By becoming a Promise Partner, we are re-iterating how much we value the safety of our farmers and farm workers. Farming can be a dangerous job and it is too important an issue for safety on farms to become an afterthought.”
