The Health and Safety Executive is relaunching a campaign to try and stop deaths and injuries on farms involving cattle and other livestock, amid fears over the number of incidents.

Being injured by an animal was the number one cause of work-related deaths on British farms between 2022 and 2023, when eight people died.

Together, livestock and farm vehicle incidents account for half of all deaths at work on British farms in the past five years.

The HSE said a total of 77 people died. A spokesperson added: "With each death leaving a devastating legacy on families. Hundreds more are hurt in incidents involving moving vehicles and cattle on farms. Incidents involving moving vehicles remains the leading cause of death over the last five-year period.”

Darlington and Stockton Times: Campaign to stop farm deaths and injuries working with animals

The HSE is relaunching the Your Farm Your Future campaign to support farmers to reduce injuries and save lives. Agriculture remains one of the most dangerous of all the main industrial sectors across the country.

Adrian Hodkinson, agriculture lead at HSE, said: “Working with cattle and using vehicles are two very common activities in farming, but they bring with them a high risk of being very badly hurt.

“This campaign is focused on work with livestock and aims to stress how important it is to take sensible measures to keep animals and people apart. At the same time we’ll be continuing to highlight the key things for safe use of farm vehicles in and around the yard and sheds, but also out in the fields when checking, feeding, moving and caring for your herd.

"For example, ATVs, or farm quads, are commonly used on livestock farms. HSE has looked at the reported incidents and many show the user was doing something in relation to farming the animals at the time of the overturn or crash. 

Darlington and Stockton Times: Warnings over farm deaths and injuries

"Agriculture consistently has a high rate of fatal and serious injuries of all main industry sectors in Great Britain. Over the past five years, the average fatal incident rate is 21 times higher in agriculture than across all other industries. That is a shocking statistic and sadly the impact on every affected farm is huge. Sometimes I see the incident leads to farming work stopping all together, as the key person has life changing injuries and can no longer work.

"It’s time for us to make a change together to make our farms safer, and that’s why we’re asking farmers in England, Scotland and Wales to consider these areas of their daily farming activities and take the right actions to prevent another farming tragedy."

HSE has created a checklist for working safely with livestock, aimed at those new to farming, and to serve as a reminder of what to consider for experienced farmers. See hse.gov.uk.