Fortescue Farm

One accident might be considered bad luck, but when a second struck within the space of six months, 4^th generation farmer Jilly Greed felt it was a real wake-up call, "Put simply, the two incidents have changed our lives. Although we were extremely lucky on both counts, it was a time of great stress for us all. My father was terminally ill and we'd got to the point where we were really stretched and on both occasions, I think everyone was just tired and worn out." 

Jilly, her husband Edwin and son George, 21, run a 500-acre suckler beef and arable farm seven miles north of Exeter in Devon. In March last year, Michael Wannell, 54, who has worked on the farm for 39 years was crushed by a cow that had calved two days beforehand.  Despite established procedures, he decided to tag the calf on his own without Edwin, but in doing so had not separated it from its mother. The cow jumped on top of him, causing him to fall and hit his back on a concrete trough, breaking his ribs in the process. 

"Michael is absolutely fantastic," Jilly says, "He's our right-hand man and we're very fortunate to have him. It was one of those routine jobs he was trying to fit in among other things. He'd known the cow from birth and trusted its calm and quiet nature and thought he'd go and do the job quickly and it would be fine. Unfortunately it wasn't and he was off for five weeks." 

In August, Jilly's husband Edwin, 62, hit his head on a cattle crush, "After Michael's accident we were short on staff and Edwin carried on managing the 250 head of livestock and calving around 100 cows. I think it was a momentary lapse in concentration probably from weariness when the knock to his head happened.  He wasn't wearing a cap and didn't realise but he'd suffered a slow bleed to the brain and continued working for five weeks. He collapsed at an event at the end of September and three days later underwent brain surgery. He'd had a series of mini strokes before it was diagnosed. Thankfully both Michael and Edwin are fine now." 

For Jilly, 55, and her family, it has meant changing the way they work and upping the health and safety procedures as well as investing in new equipment including a calf dehorning crate (pictured) to keep young stock secure. Jilly says, "You can find bits of kit that actually make your life easier and they don't have to be particularly expensive, but they speed up the process. The crate means the animal's head and hooves are safe and secure and they can't kick-out. I don't know why we didn't get it sooner to be honest. We always separate the cows from the calves when tagging and dehorning using the crate and separate pens." 

In September 2010 they took on 17-year old apprentice Charlie Land from Silverton, near Exeter who is studying agriculture at Bridgwater College, "It's been an enormously beneficial experience for us. We're really delighted with Charlie and the relationship we have with the College, where health and safety is fundamental to what they're doing and good practice is taught from the very beginning. We discuss health and safety issues on the farm with Mike and Charlie on a regular basis making sure they fully understand the importance.  Apprentices through agricultural colleges and universities are the workforce of the future and good practice on health and safety is critical from the start. 

"Having Charlie on board encourages us to be careful and think, you have a real duty of care for him and Michael, it's instinctive to what he's doing and I feel we are watchful of doing as much as we can to mitigate the risks. Health and safety is now the absolute number one priority on the farm. We're not perfect by any means but you do need to be jolted and reminded daily about working safely," she says.   

Mike believes it's also about the smaller measures they have taken, "We have improved farm policy and removed the hazards wherever we can. It's usually the small things that catch you out - slips, trips and falls, lights not working, moss on cobbles, cattle being unpredictable, worn tyres or a pressure washer not being put away. It's the attention to detail that can make a difference to the bigger picture." 

With agriculture having the worst record for fatalities and major injuries of any UK industry, Jilly and Edwin Greed totally endorse Cornish Mutual's new Farmsafe initiative highlighting health and safety on farms, "We're very pleased the company's taken a proactive approach with this strategy;   it goes hand in hand with providing insurance products and services for farming and rural communities. 

"I think it's about encouraging and sharing best practices and experiences openly and not using it as a stick to beat farmers with. Quite naturally like other farmers, we're nervous about discussing it because we fear a health and safety visit."

Edwin added, "If raising the profile of health and safety actually prevents the kind of accidents we experienced and helps to bring about improvements on farm it could really make the difference. I think it would be fair to say that, as an industry, we've still a long way to go." 

For many farmers, Jilly thinks health and safety ends up in the 'red tape' bracket, "Because there's an element of paperwork in it, not many think about it beforehand, but when they've had an accident on the farm they really do place a lot of importance on it. Not enough people realise health and safety is a legal requirement - I think this will come from better education and training.   

"Although the process can be quite rigorous and, dare I say, can be onerous at times, it should be common practice and part and parcel of your whole business system." 

For Michael, the accident has also been a wakeup call, "It's what you can do beforehand to stop accidents happening. It's usually something that you've been doing for a long time, whether it's a routine procedure with cattle, machinery or buildings and its bad habits, taking short cuts and too much trust in what you're doing. The 'what if' factor isn't thought through and the 'what if' actually happens. Sooner or later it will turn around and bite you and you'll come unstuck." 

Succession planning including a trained workforce is the main thing that can make a real difference in reducing the number of accidents on farms explains Jilly, "Often you've got older generations still doing those physical jobs, sons and daughters not wanting to take over and a labour shortage. But also farmer's wives can be real energisers and a positive influence for change in teaching their children about the importance of health and safety on the farm, from toddlers right up to working adults."

Jilly says she understands it's also about tight margins for many in the livestock industry in the South West, "We were running really thin on staff, and there wasn't much margin for reinvestment in machinery or equipment.  I know that for some farmers, it's about just hanging on in there until farm gate prices improve. When you have a more profitable business, you're able to employ extra staff and upgrade and improve kit. 

Changing attitudes towards health and safety is a long-term goal says Jilly, "There are lots of positive opportunities happening now in agriculture but it's not going to change overnight; it's going to be 10 years certainly before we see significant improvements." 

Edwin agrees, "It's not easy.  I think the time has come for the industry to really look at this issue and grasp it more positively rather than learn the hard way."