Good practice: agriculture
In the latest of a series of good practice guides on agriculture,
Connect looks at additional risks to health and welfare,
including stress and chemical and biological hazards.
Stress
It has become harder to make farming pay and financial problems,
mounting paperwork and confusion over how to comply with new
regulations all add to the stress they experience. Crises
such as mass slaughter of animals due to foot-and-mouth or
TB can increase feelings of despair among farmers and
their families. Controls for stress are many and complex. HSE
research from
2005 explores how stress affects farming communities and makes
suggestions of how support can be provided. The Farm Crisis Network
(FCN) exists to provide support and counselling services to
farmers and their families through difficult times. The
Samaritans provides support
to anyone with feelings of distress or despair and has identified
farmers as a target group.
Outdoor work
Working outdoors can create additional
problems, exacerbating existing hazards. Too much sun can result in
sunburn or heat stroke and over exposure to sunlight can make
dermatitis symptoms worse. Working in the cold may make workers
more prone to vibration hazards and, in the extreme, result in more
accidents through the inability to fully control tools. The key
control should be to plan work to avoid long periods of work in
extreme temperatures. In cold weather, clothing should be
appropriate to the weather, with opportunities provided to get hot
food and drink in a warm place at suitable intervals. In hot
weather, there should be sufficient breaks for drinks and workers
should protect their skin with sunscreen and clothing.
Welfare
Welfare facilities may be more difficult to
provide on farms – it’s unlikely that there will be toilet
facilities and refreshments in every field. However, ready access
to suitable facilities is now commonplace particularly in
harvesting were gangs are working. Work therefore needs to be
planned to make sure workers to take comfort and meal breaks where
facilities are available. If such breaks are taken of necessity
near a place of work an appropriate means should be provided to
wash hands before eating or drinking.
Chemical and biological hazards
The COSHH approach to chemical and biological
substances, which may be hazardous to health, should apply just as
much on a farm as a factory. The first step is to identify
potential substances. These may be found in:
- cleaning substances, for example disinfectants
containing chlorine, and detergents
- pesticides such as organophosphates, including
insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. Slug pellets, chemical
repellents for birds and animals, and substances put down to kill
rodents should also be regarded as substances hazardous to
health
- fertilisers. Special requirements apply to
the storage of fertilisers containing ammonium nitrate
- veterinary medicines may be stored on farms, and
should be subject to COSHH controls
- naturally occurring substances such as dust from
organic materials
Note that workers may be exposed to the
hazards arising from pesticides and fertilisers at all stages of
their use – from transport, storage and application, through
weeding and harvesting to handling and packing. Hazardous
substances may also be the by-product of other processes:
- exhaust from vehicles
- fumes from welding
- nitrogen dioxide from silos containing
fermenting silage
- hydrogen sulphide from rotting manure
- organic dusts created by handling, grain, wood,
hay, straw and feedstuffs
- biological microorganisms such as spores from
mould, infectious microbes and parasites
Exposure to biological and chemical hazards
can lead to skin problems such as dermatitis or to respiratory
problems, including occupational asthma, allergic rhinitis,
bronchitis and Farmer's Lung (or hypersensitivity pneumonitis).
Chemical and biological hazards should be
controlled through effective COSHH management, identifying the
hazards, eliminating the hazards where possible (for example, by
substituting a less hazardous substance), minimising dust,
chemicals or spores at source, using work systems which isolate and
safely ventilate hazards.
HSE has recently completed research and worked
closely with the poultry industry to produce guidance “Controlling
exposure to poultry dust” and a useful training
package for the industry. This is a useful and effective
format and provides a model for other sectors of industry.
Farmers have gone a long way towards
minimising the use of chemicals, now using only two-thirds of the
amount of chemicals
used in 1983.
PPE should be worn as a last resort, and
must be checked and maintained regularly to ensure its integrity
and effectiveness. Where hazardous biological and chemical
substances exist on a farm, there should be a programme of health
surveillance. Farm workers and farmers need to be aware of
possible symptoms (for example, skin problems, headaches). If
any symptoms are experienced, they should let their doctor know and
tell the doctor about substances they may have been exposed to.
The HSE provides an agricultural information
sheet on the storage of pesticides (AIS16), as well as the more
detailed “Code of practice for
using plant protection products”
You can find links to all the COSHH essentials information sheets
on the HSE website
including advice on cleaning, composting and harvesting.
Links
Connect: agriculture good practice
part one
HSE’s main sources/references on ill health
are:
- “Farmwise – Your essential guide to
health and safety in agriculture” (in particular sections 13,
15 and 18 to 23)
- The HSE’s webpage
on ill health issues
- “Agriculture: Your health”
carry card, Agriculture Industry Advisory Committee
- The HSE's sub-site on pesticide use
Specific information and guidance on health issues in forestry and
arboriculture (e.g. on MSD’s, noise and vibration, skin/respiratory
complaints and pesticides), is also available on HSE’s
‘Treework’
website