Farm vehicles targeted in Kent safety checks
The HSE, VOSA and Kent Police are randomly safety checking agricultural vehicles both in the fields and on the roads - 3rd August 2008
In the past five years
there have 22 major injuries at work and four
fatalities caused by farm vehicles and machinery in
Kent. Farmers are being urged to ensure that they
are maintaining and keeping all farm machinery in a
safe working condition to help prevent such
accidents at work occurring, both on the road and
off it.
The Health and
Safety Executive (HSE),
the Vehicle and
Operator Services Agency (VOSA) and the
Kent Police
will be carrying out spot checks at random over the
next few weeks on farm vehicles, both on the roads
and in the fields to make sure that they are safe,
and in a good state of repair. The checks will be
promoting the
British Agricultural and Garden Machinery
Associations (BAGMA) vehicle health check
scheme.
Existing laws do not require agricultural vehicles
to have a MOT, even if they are being used on public
roads. Health and safety legislation does require
however that any vehicles which are being used on
farms, are kept maintained in an efficient state,
good repair and working order, and must be safe. If
the HSE, VOSA and Kent Police feel that there is a
serious risk to the machine operative, farm workers
or other people they can prohibit further use of
that equipment until it is in a safe state to
continue.
Injury at work whilst farming is often through a
lack of the correct equipment usage training, and
health and safety training, not only faulty
machinery. Not only should farmers ensure that the
machinery is safe to use, they must also ensure
operatives know how to operate the machinery
correctly and safely.
It is estimated that up to 50% of farm vehicles may
be unsafe to use. If farmers use the BAGMA vehicle
health checks it would ensure that their vehicles
are in a safe working order.
