It is a chance to remind everyone how a few easy steps can help keep us and those in our networks safe – this year’s theme is #Take5StayAlive.

Farm Safety Week is an annual campaign from the Farm Safety Foundation, often known as Yellow Wellies, established by the NFU to encourage those working in agriculture to think about how they can protect the safety of those working in and living on farms.

The focus this year is to ask everyone in the industry to influence their peers, family, colleagues and contacts to keep farm safety front of mind by creating their own content to support the message to the industry, around the theme of ‘take 5 stay alive’.

This translates into taking five minutes to plan farm tasks, making sure you evaluate the risks and make sure you think about how to keep yourself and those around you safe.

Why is it important to remind people of safety right now?

Harvest time as we know is a time where we know many people are working longer hours and are even more busy than usual which results in tiredness.

This is when mistakes can happen, so highlighting key risks and top tips at this point reminds everyone to take extra care, although of course it is vital to be thinking about farm safety all year round.

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Here are a few of our #Take5StayAlive tips from some of our team at Pinstone who either live or who have close family working in farming.

Helen Maiden
As a farmer’s daughter I have a true passion for the agricultural sector, so this is a campaign that really resonates with me. My top tips would be:

• Don’t be complacent – animals are animals; machinery is dangerous and humans are fragile
• Treat livestock with respect – especially new mothers
• Turn off PTOs if you’re getting out of the cab
• Use your mirrors
• Respect your abilities
• Look after yourself – you can’t finish that job if you’re injured, or worse

Becky Beaumont
Living on the family farm means safety is something that concerns my family and I at home everyday.  My top tips would be:

• Wear high vis – this is especially helpful to highlight each other in the dark, especially with tired eyes
• Make sure you safe stop all machinery – put gears into neutral, your handbrake on and remove the key

Gemma Mackie
I wrote far too many stories about people getting killed on farms during my time as a journalist, and farm health and safety is a subject I’m passionate about.

All accidents are awful, and in most cases avoidable, but those that really struck me were ones involving children. My top tips would be:

• Remember a farm isn’t a playground and set clear boundaries for children
• Treat your children as you would any other visitor to the farm
• Remember, being safety conscious with kids doesn’t mean they can’t be involved or enjoy growing up on a farm – just do things from a distance and with safety at the forefront of your mind ALWAYS.

Read more about Yellow Wellies and this year’s campaign here: Farm Safety Foundation / Yellow Wellies – YellowWellies.org and follow the hashtag #Take5StayAlive across social media platforms. And help us spread the message by sharing, liking or commenting on our post.