51AVÊÓÆµ

51AVÊÓÆµSafety Week: Farming still the UK's most dangerous profession

The 13th annual 51AVÊÓÆµSafety Week launched on July 21 with farmers urged to ‘please, stop and reflect'

Alex Black
clock • 2 min read
51AVÊÓÆµSafety Week: Farming still the UK's most dangerous profession

Farms remain the most dangerous place to work accounting for 1 in every 5 workplace fatalities.

As 51AVÊÓÆµSafety Week gets underway in 2025, Yellow Wellies has highlighted the high level of fatalities on farm, with 28 worker related farm deaths across the UK in 2025 and 4 members of the public killed, including 2 children.

51AVÊÓÆµSafety Week is the annual awareness-raising campaign run by UK charity The 51AVÊÓÆµSafety Foundation (Yellow Wellies).

This year, the charity has broadened the scope of the campaign and is working with Farmsafe Australia.

51AVÊÓÆµSafety Week

Farmers Guardian will be using the week to raise awareness and share advice on how the industry can improve its record.

While the agricultural sector has long been associated with high rates of injury and ill health, recent data suggests that meaningful progress is being made in improving farm safety.

Historically, the industry has faced alarming figures, with over 23,000 reported cases of long-term ill-health and serious injuries. However, there are now signs of a positive shift with the number of long-term ill health and serious injuries falling to 18,000.Ìý Ìý

READ NOW:ÌýFarming continues to have highest number of fatalities per capita

According to rural insurer NFU Mutual, the number of farm accident claims in the UK dropped from 937 in 2023/24 to 894 in 2024/25.

Incidents involving moving vehicles, falls from height, slips and trips, and trapped body parts continue to dominate the statistics.

Complacency is attributed as a major contributor, according to research carried out by the 51AVÊÓÆµSafety Foundation.

Stephanie Berkeley, 51AVÊÓÆµSafety Foundation manager said: "‘I've always done it that way' is a phrase we hear all too often.

51AVÊÓÆµfatalitiesÌý Ìý

"Although confidence built over years on the land is a strength, it can also become a blind spot. When you start to underestimate the dangers of the vehicles, equipment and animals we know so well, we risk letting routine turn deadly. Experience should guide caution, not excuse it."

She said things were starting to change, but the pace was ‘too slow'.

READ NOW:ÌýFarmer issues lone worker warning after suffering medical emergency

Ms Berkeley said too many were still relying on luck to get home safe.

"Luck is not a safety strategy. It is not a plan. It is not enough.ÌýÌý

She said she had one plea to everyone working and living in the industry to ‘please, stop and reflect'.

"Look at your daily routine, your equipment, your mindset. Ask yourself, what can I do today to make my farm safer? For myself. For my family. For the people who work with me.ÌýÌý

"Change does not happen overnight. It starts with one decision, one action, one conversation."

READ NOW:ÌýScottish farmer died after being trampled by cow

For more information on 51AVÊÓÆµSafety Week visit or follow @yellowwelliesUK on Instagram/Facebook/X using the hashtag #FarmSafetyWeekÌý

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