Some 66% of farmers involved in the project felt that some safety training like the Safe Pass programme, which is mandatory for construction workers, should be introduced for farming.

This would include a mixture of theory and practical measures such as pictures or videos of the dangers and risks on farms and their consequences, and the solutions to overcome these risks.

Meanwhile, it was interesting to note that before the project started, 48% of farmers admitted they took risks that they would not allow anyone else take on the farm.

ADVERTISEMENT

Post-evaluation responses found that 65% of farmers had changed their attitude in relation to this and would no longer involve themselves in such risks.

However, 35% of farmers said they would still take these risks.

Injury

Almost half (46%) of all farmers involved in the project said they had been involved in near misses or some sort of injury as a result of taking a risk they shouldn’t have. This was just based on the last three years on that farmer’s farm.