Farm Safety – OSH issues

Introduction

Farmland accounts for 42 % of the European territory^[1] and plays an important part in the economic, cultural and political life of Europe. In 2020, there were 9.1 million agricultural holdings in the EU. Most of the farms are located in Romania (31.8 %), followed by Poland (14.4 %), Italy (12.5 %) and Spain (10.1 %). The vast majority of the EU's farms are family farms. Family farms are farms on which 50 % or more of the regular agricultural labour force is provided by family members. Between 2005 and 2020, the number of farms in the EU fell by about 37%, equivalent to the loss of 5.3 million farms, the vast majority (about 87%) of which are small farms of less than 5 ha^[2].

In 2020, 4.2 % of European workers worked in agriculture^[3] and a lot more in the food industry which depends on the agricultural sector. But it is also a hazardous industry in which many workers are killed and injured in workplace accidents, or suffer from occupationally acquired diseases. About 360 people are killed every year in farm accidents in the EU^[4]. Farm workers work with potentially dangerous machinery, vehicles, chemicals, livestock, at height or near pits and silos and are exposed to bad weather, dangerous substances, noise and dust. The risks also include family members working at the farm and children living at the farm.

This article will look at typical problems in the agricultural sector, describing hazards and risks, and highlighting prevention and control measures. Forestry and fishery are subject of two separate OSHwiki articles.

Fact and Figures

In 2020, there were 9.1 million farms in the EU2 and 4.2 % of European workers, corresponding to an estimated 8.7 million persons, worked in the agriculture sector^[3]. However, it is difficult to get information on the exact number of workers in the sector. Different data sources provide figures on employment in the sector. The differences can be explained by the special characteristics of agriculture: farm workers may provide work at different times in the year (e.g. seasonal workers), work part-time, work irregularly or help out on farms without being employed by them. This helps explain why the EU's regular agricultural labour force is much higher, at 17.0 million people in 2020^[3]. The agricultural labour force is the highest in Romania (20.9 % of the total work force), Bulgaria (16.6%), Greece (9.7%) and Poland (9.0%)^[3].
The agricultural sector in the EU is dominated by family farms. Family farms are farms on which 50 % or more of the regular agricultural labour force is provided by family members and about 94.8 % are classed as such in 2020^[2]. 

The fatal accident rate in the agriculture, forestry and fishing, for the EU 27 Member States, was 4.69 per 100 000 workers, in 2012. Although the rates for fatal accidents have declined in the last ten years, these rates are still some of the highest for any industry, with only construction and transportation having a higher rate (Table 1).

Table 1: Fatal accidents at work in the EU28 (in comparison with some selected sectors)

* cases per 100,000 workers

Source: Eurostat^[4] 

Table 2: Breakdown of fatal accidents in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector (NACE code A), according to company size (EU 28) (number of accidents)

Source: Eurostat^[5]

Looking at the farm size, the highest numbers of fatal accidents happened in micro-enterprises (one to nine workers) due to the high percentage of small family farms (table 2). While the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector has many fatal accidents in proportion to its employment figures, in terms of non-fatal accidents, the incident rate is similar to the incident rate of the total non-fatal accidents in EU 27 (table 3). This may not reflect the real number of non-fatal accidents. The record of occupational diseases or non-fatal accidents is poor compared to other sectors. 

Table 3: Non-fatal accidents at work in EU 28 (in comparison with some selected sectors)

* cases per 100,000 workers

Source: Eurostat^[4] 

Table 4: Breakdown of non-fatal Accidents (4 days or over) in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector (NACE code A), according to company size (EU 28) (number of accidents)

Source: Eurostat^[5]

The highest numbers of non-fatal accidents can be found in micro- and small enterprises, which is related to the very large proportion of farm workers working in micro-enterprises (table 4).

Working Conditions

The agricultural sector is a significant employer of both women and men in the EU.. However, the sector is male dominated. More than two thirds (68.4 %) of farm managers in the EU are male. Women often work in family farms performing numerous daily tasks. Female bosses in agriculture are rare. A majority (57.6 %) of farm managers (both sexes combined) are at least 55 years of age^[3]. 

Working conditions in agriculture differ from the wider labour force in several ways. For instance, agricultural workers tend to work longer than average. In 2021, the average working time in agriculture was 41.2 hours, which is more than the economy-wide average of 35.9 hours. This discrepancy is accentuated by the fact that 23.5% of agricultural workers work long hours, defined as 49 hours or more per week. This figure is almost three times higher than the 7.4% average for all employed people^[6]. Atypical working hours, such as weekends, evenings or night work, are also very common for farm workers. In 2021, temporary work was about as common in agriculture (12.4%) as in all other activities (12.0%). In terms of employment status, agriculture differed from the overall EU labour force in two ways. Both the proportion of family members and the self-employed were significantly higher in agriculture, at 10.8% (compared with an average of 0.7%) for family members and 54.0% (compared with an average of 13.8%) for the self-employed^[6].

Farming is also a seasonal activity, with production peaks at certain times of the year, requiring high numbers of agricultural workers for a limited duration. Seasonal workers are often migrant workers. Germany for instance receives around 300 000 workers a year for agricultural, horticultural and forestry work, many of them from Central and Eastern Europe, especially Poland and Romania^[7].

Self-employment, the high percentage of temporary workers, and the fact that farming is often a family business are challenges for occupational safety and health. Self-employed workers in the agriculture industry are more often victims of fatal accidents in comparison to others industries^[8].

Work-Related Risk Factors

Agriculture is one of the most hazardous sectors. Workers in the sector work with potentially dangerous machinery, vehicles and livestock. Many accidents occur during repair and maintenance work, and animal care. They work at height and near pits and silos. They are exposed to bad weather conditions, noise and vibration, dust and dangerous substances. The main causes of accidents include:

• Transport (being run over or vehicle overturns);
• Falling from height (through fragile roofs, from trees etc.);
• Being struck by moving or falling objects (bales, trees etc.);
• Being trapped by something collapsing or overturning;
• Contact with machinery
• Livestock-related accidents and fatalities;
• Asphyxiation / drowning
• Contact with electricity

Machinery and Vehicles

Most accidents involve farm machinery and vehicles. Getting hit, run over, or entangled in machinery can lead to death or severe injury.

The tractor is the most commonly used vehicle in farm fatalities. Many injuries are caused by being crushed by tractors or by overturning. Tractors overturning continues to be a persistent problem in several European countries. According to a Spanish study, 595 deaths were caused by overturning tractors over a 10-year period (2010-2019), about one per week. 91% of these deaths involved tractors without rollover protective structures (ROPS) or where the system was not properly engaged^[9]. Other severe and fatal incidents are caused by harvesters, mowers or round balers. The risk of injury comes from contact with the machine’s moving parts like blades or flails or being trapped, pulled or entangled in other parts of machines^[10].

Other hazards and risks arise from portable tools and equipment, such as saws, hammers, screwdrivers, axes and wrenches, circular saws, drills, motor winches or high-pressure cleaners. They are part of the everyday work in agriculture and can be very dangerous when they are not maintained properly, broken or defective^[8]. Workers may be injured due to entanglement in moving parts, heat, explosion, being struck by metal particles and sparks.

Slips, trips and falls

Slips, trips and falls can happen anywhere on the farm. The different ground conditions on farms (muddy, slippery, uneven, with obstacles and tripping hazards) increase the risk of slip and trip hazards. Workers in agriculture may slip because of slippery surfaces, uneven and steep terrain, holes in ground, obstacles or poorly designed steps. They may also fall from tractors or mobile machinery when getting on or off.

Falls from heights are a leading cause of workplace fatalities in agriculture. Work at height includes for instance:

• infrequent roof work;
• installation or maintenance of buildings/greenhouses/glasshouses;
• accessing silos, haylofts and elevated hay barns;
• accessing elevated water tanks^[11].

Livestock

Animal handling involves a large number of activities, such as feeding, cleaning out stables, birthing, herding, or slaughtering. Any work with animals (e.g. horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and others) involves some level of risk. Injuries from animals are one of the biggest causes of farm accidents. These include crushing, knocking, or kicking injuries.

Manual Handling

Workers in agriculture do a wide variety of manual handling tasks and are particularly exposed to ergonomic hazards (tiring or painful positions, carrying or moving heavy loads, standing or walking and repetitive hand or arm movements)^[8]. 

Workers may suffer from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) such as back pain, neck and upper limb complaints, hand–arm vibration syndrome and osteoarthritis of the hip and knee as a result of:

• Lifting heavy loads, and poor manual handling techniques
• Repetitive movements
• Exposure to vibration while driving agricultural vehicles and using equipment
• Awkward postures while harvesting etc.
• Or acute injuries from accidents (broken bones, muscle or tendon sprains and strains).

Table 5 lists some examples of manual handling tasks.

Table 5: Examples of Hazardous Manual Handling Tasks^[12]

Source ^[12]

Confined Spaces

The maintenance of silos, slurry tanks, bins and grain conveyors presents the usual risks associated with working in confined spaces. Access to such confined spaces is usually only possible through one access point with no alternative exit, and often with a small opening. 

Farmers and workers who enter a confined space may be exposed to a toxic gas or oxygen deficiency, resulting in injury or death. In slurry tanks, the most common operations carried out are: cleaning, inspection, repair or installation of devices. In grain conveyors and bins, workers enter to remove blockages that stop the grain flow.

Noise and Vibration

Workers in agriculture are frequently exposed to loud noises from tools, machinery and animals. Prolonged exposure to noise can cause permanent hearing loss and tinnitus. Studies have shown that farmers and farm workers may experience substantial hearing loss by the age of 30^[13].  

Causes of noise in agriculture include:

• Mobile machinery (e.g. tractors);
• Other work equipment (e.g. chain saws); and
• Livestock

Noise and vibration often occur together. Workers in agriculture are at particular risk of vibration. They are exposed to whole-body vibrations but also to hand-arm vibrations. Vibration can cause health effects that range from discomfort to acute or chronic illness. The basic sources of whole-body vibration in agriculture are tractors and self-propelled farm machines (e.g. harvesters, mowers). Exposure to whole-body vibration over a long period of time can have a negative effect on the organs, muscles and the circulatory system. Exposure to hand/arm vibration through powered hand tools, such as chainsaws, brush cutters or grinders can cause the white finger syndrome, nerve, muscle or joint damage^[11].

Dangerous Substances

Agricultural workers may be exposed to chemicals, including pesticides, fertilizers, disinfecting agents, veterinary drugs, solvents, and oils which might in the long-run cause asthma, skin problems, harm to the nervous system, or cancer^[8].  The largest quantities correspond to the use of pesticides and fertilizers.

Pesticide exposure can be associated with a number of health problems including:

• Acute or chronic carcinogenic, causing cancer of the brain, stomach, pancreas, etc.;
• Immunology diseases;
• Neurotoxic diseases;
• Reproductive toxic effects;
• Leukaemia, and;
• Lymphomas.

Skin contact with chemicals or prolonged exposure to UV radiation (sunlight) can have dermatological effects such as:

• Irritant and / or allergic contact dermatitis,
• Sun-induced dermatitis,
• Burns,
• Melanoma,
• skin cancer, etc.

Dust and Biological Agents

Workers in agriculture are exposed to various sources of biological agents and dust. The specific biological agents in agricultural work include bacteria, fungi, mites, viruses, and bacteria transmitted from animals, parasites and ticks. Biological agents can cause infections or have poisoning or toxic effects. Dusts and moulds may be generated in the production and storage of various grains and other biological material and can cause illness or acute respiratory reactions (e.g. asthma, farmer’s lung disease or the organic dust toxic syndrome). They are at a higher risk of asthma and respiratory symptoms than other workers.

Workers in agriculture are at risk from:

• Bacteria, fungi, mites, and viruses transmitted from animals, parasites and ticks (zoonoses);
• Respiratory problems due to micro-organisms and mites in organic dusts of grain, milk powder, flour, spices; and
• Specific allergic diseases like farmer’s lung and bird breeder’s lung.

They are also at risk of being exposed to skin and respiratory sensitisers from:

• Animal proteins from urine and dander,
• Flour,
• Some vegetables, plants, and spices,
• Storage mites,
• Moulds,
• Some wood dusts incl. composite boards,
• Textile fibres

Further information on biological agents in specific sectors is also available in two papers published by EU-OSHA, one on animal-related occupations^[14] and one on arable farming^[15].

Electricity

Workers are at risk of electrocution, where electrical equipment and installations do not comply with the correct standard, are broken, or not well maintained. Electrocution is quick and deadly. Workers are at risk if they come in contact with faulty electrical installations, equipment or overhead cables^[8].  Electrical installations can be found in all buildings, including stables, workshops, residential houses and the farmyard, and many other farm buildings.
Portable electrical tools (e.g. electric welders, drills, battery chargers) have been responsible for many electrocutions on farms.
Overhead power lines pose a serious risk to workers in agriculture. Some large agricultural machinery and lifting equipment are capable of reaching overhead electricity power lines.

Psychosocial risks

Working in the agriculture sector is not only physically, but also mentally demanding. Long working hours, isolation, financial uncertainty, planning difficulties, administrative demands, and the interaction between stress and exposure to multiple physical risks pose psychosocial risks for farmers. Moreover, there are increasing demands, expectations and pressures on farmers as they are expected to provide healthy, ethically and safely produced food and take care of our climate and environment. Consequences of climate change such as extreme weather events increase uncertainty and unpredictability and lead to crop losses and planning problems. Farming is changing rapidly, and the introduction of new technologies and equipment requires large financial investments, increasing uncertainty and financial pressures^[9]. 

Prevention and control measures

After the hazards have been identified, the next step is to determine who will be exposed to these hazards and to what extent. This will then lead to the identification of the necessary prevention and control measures, including reassessing the effectiveness of existing measures. The selection of measures has to follow a certain hierarchy to ensure that the most effective measures (e.g. elimination and substitution) are considered first, and the least effective (e.g. personal protective equipment) are seen as the last resort. For instance, the elimination of noise can include replacing machinery or vehicles with less noisy machinery or changing the way work to avoid noise. 

Substitution of hazardous chemicals or processes can include replacing dangerous substances by non or less hazardous ones (e.g. water-based paints or aqueous cleaning processes).

The application of engineering controls to reduce noise includes using a tractor or self-propelled machine with a sound-proof cabin, using insulation and sound dampeners. The application of organisational measures of accident prevention includes to separate the worker from the noise and to reduce the time workers are exposed to noise.

The use of personal protection equipment (PPE), when prevention and control measures are not sufficient, can include hearing protectors, safety footwear, respiratory protection, sunscreen against the UV radiation, etc.

It is required to involve the workers into the risk assessment process, as they know about the conditions and risks at their own workplaces. This will increase their motivation to apply the developed measures.

The employer must ensure that all workers receive sufficient and adequate information and training. This is to enable workers to work effectively and efficiently, safely and without risk to their health. Training and instruction are continuous processes. However, they are particularly important upon:

• their recruitment;
• a transfer or change of duties;
• the introduction or change of a work equipment;
• the introduction of a new technology.

Some examples of prevention measures for risks in agriculture are listed in table 6. The  non–binding guide to best practice with a view to improving the application of related directives on protecting health and safety of workers in agriculture, livestock farming, horticulture and forestry^[11] published by the European Commission provides extensive guidance and good practice examples. 

Table 6: Examples of prevention measures

Risk Assessment Tools

In 2009, EU-OSHA began to develop a web application (tools generator) to create interactive risk assessment tools (OiRA tools). These OiRA tools help micro- and small organisations to put in place a risk assessment process – starting with the identification and evaluation of workplace risks, passing on to decision making on preventive actions and the taking of action and ending with monitoring and reporting. In 2021, the Social Partners of the European Agricultural sector, EFFAT (European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions) and Geopa-Copa (Employers’ Group of Professional Agricultural Organisations in the European Union) have developed an OiRA for the agricultural sector^[16]. This EU OiRA covers risks related to handling animals (cattle, pigs, horses, sheep, goats), fruit and vegetable cultivation as well as risks related to pesticides, agricultural vehicles, working in confined spaces, working at heights and with heavy machinery, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), and psychosocial issues. Besides the European tool, several national OiRA partners, have developed an online risk analysis either for the whole sector or for sub-sectors such as flower farming (Belgium) or cane sugar farming (France)^[17].

Vulnerable Groups

Children

Farms are dangerous places for children. Every year children are killed during agricultural work. According to the International Social Security Association (ISSA), two thirds of children killed in agricultural accidents are under the age of five and most of them are the farmers’ children^[11].The main causes of child fatal accidents are tractors, machinery, drowning and contact with animals. 

Contractors and Migrant Workers

Contractors are often used for particularly hazardous jobs such as cleaning or repairing fragile roofs, or cleaning out slurry tanks and are at greater risk from accidents and disease. In the agriculture sector, seasonal workers are often migrant workers. Lack of awareness of hazards and risks and language difficulties make migrant workers vulnerable to accidents and disease^[8]. Migrant workers are exposed to the same risks as other, home based, seasonal agricultural workers. However, due to the difficulties in obtaining work and residential permits in many European countries, many migrant workers work in the unofficial ‘black’ economy. The work of these migrants is undeclared, and consequently they may be low paid and have poor housing and living conditions. These workers will make no social security contributions, and consequently have no social protection, and are often subjected to abuse and exploitation. The European Labour Authority (ELA) launched in 2021 a campaign on seasonal workers Rights for All Seasons to raise the awareness of seasonal workers and also the employers hiring them on existing rights^[18].

Legal Aspects

Safety and health in agriculture is not covered by a specific EU directive but various EU directives do address certain safety and health issues in the sector. Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work – the "Framework Directive"^[19] - sets out the risk assessment process and the general principles of OSH management. Several individual directives have been issued based on the Framework Directive containing specific provisions such as on work equipment^[20], noise^[21], chemical agents^[22]and young workers^[23]. Self-employed workers are not covered by the Directives on health and safety at work, but there is a Council Recommendation concerning the improvement of the protection of the health and safety at work of self-employed workers^[24]. Taking into account that the number of self-employed is increasing and there are a large number of self-employed workers in certain "high-risk" sectors such as agriculture, fishing, construction, and transport, the Council recommends that Member States promote health and safety for self-employed workers by measures they consider most appropriate, such as legislation, incentives, information campaigns, access to training and health surveillance.