My role as Ambassador for the Wales Farm Safety Partnership is a varied one. The main aim of the role is to promote farm safety and reduce the risk of accidents on Welsh farms.

As we say goodbye to lambing for another year and head into harvesting season, I thought now would be a good time to remind you all of the importance of on-farm safety. Staying safe on farm is all about prevention. Farmers need to be aware of the risks in their place of work and know how they can minimise or remove them. Machinery is one of the biggest risks to safety and that is why this quarter, the Wales Farm Safety Partnership, of which NFU Cymru is a member, is focussing on highlighting this.

Vehicles work hard on farms. That’s why it’s vital they are checked and maintained regularly to detect faults and prevent mechanical failures. Safety checks help protect you, your family and your farm. It is important to think about some of the simple steps you can take to reduce injuries and ultimately save lives:

· Complete daily checks before commencing use of machinery or vehicles

· Ensure all machine cabs are kitted out with emergency contact numbers, including the DNO (distribution network operator), and fire extinguishers

· Ensure your vehicle is well maintained, especially brakes on trailers. Check tyre pressures routinely and regularly

· Ensure all loads are stable and secure

· Review overhead powerline risk assessments regularly.

Around 50% of deaths involving moving vehicles on British farms could have been prevented if these areas of the vehicles are in order. Maintenance work should be done by someone with the skills and knowledge to undertake the work safely, ensuring all the power to the vehicles and machinery is off and they are isolated.

The NFU’s ‘Take 5 to Stay Alive’ campaign encourages farmers to take five minutes before each task, allowing time to evaluate the situation and implement ways to make the process safer.

Using the idea of ‘Take 5 to Stay Alive’ can be helpful to promote regular breaks at times of year like harvesting when exhaustion levels can be high. Tiredness and fatigue are two of the major contributing factors to accidents on-farm.

Eligible farmers registered with Farming Connect can apply for a wide range of training courses on many different aspects of farm safety which are all funded by up to 80%. I would urge everyone to look into this and to see what they can to do to make their farms a safer place.

For more information on farm safety please visit the NFU Cymru website.