Farmers’ occupational health: cause for concern, cause for action

This study examines occupational health and safety provision from farmers’ perspectives, to address the question ‘Are farmers’ health and safety needs being met?’ Given that farmers encounter a variety of health and safety risks in the course of their daily work, and that available statistics clearly indicate they are a high risk group, a review of the literature suggests that this area has attracted little research attention. No study has critically examined the system of occupational health and safety provision for farmers and no attempts have been made to elicit farmers’ perspectives on the subject. A telephone survey using a questionnaire divided into four sections, involving a random sample of 150 farmers from the counties of Cumbria, Cheshire and Cambridgeshire in England, found that farmers considered the system of occupational health and safety provision to be inadequate and that their occupational health and safety needs were not being met. Recommendations for improvements are made based on the results of the survey.