HEALTH&SAFETY BULLETIN
JANUARY 2026
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Ceres Rural’s Health & Safety Bulletin. Each quarter, we update you on industry news, topical issues, and safety alerts with the aim of supporting you in achieving best practice on your farm or estate. This edition provides dos and don'ts for the safe charging of batteries, and insights into the Health & Safety Executive’s recently published Annual Report that directly affect farm and estate businesses across the United Kingdom. It continues by outlining what farms and estates need to know about the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. The bulletin then suggests that reporting of and learning from significant near misses can allow farms and estates to build a proactive safety culture and to reduce accidents and incidents. It also provides a winter reminder of mud on the road and the practical measures that farms and estates can take to mitigate this hazard. Finally, three recent health and safety accidents and prosecutions are explained, including commentary from the Health & Safety Executive’s investigation of each case.
SAFECHARGING OFBATTERIES
From tractors and telehandlers to electric fencing units and bird scarers, batteries are essential across most farms and estates. However, charging and maintaining them in workshops or machinery sheds can introduce serious hazards if not managed properly. Fires, explosions, acid burns and toxic gas exposure have all occurred during battery charging, but are nearly always preventable with the right precautions.
INORDERTOENSURESAFECHARGINGOFBATTERIES:
DO NOT charge batteries near naked flames, heaters, welders, grinders or smoking areas as hydrogen gas is highly explosive.
DO NOT overcharge batteries: this can cause overheating, gassing and internal damage leading to fire or explosion.
DO NOT attempt to charge visibly damaged or frozen batteries: dispose of them safely
DO NOT use improvised or homemade chargers or mix chargers between incompatible battery types.
DO NOT allow metal objects (e.g. spanners, screws or wire) to rest on top of batteries where they may short-circuit terminals.
DO NOT place batteries directly on damp floors, which can increase self discharge and corrosion.
DO NOT ignore overheating: disconnect immediately if the battery or charger becomes unusually hot.
DO NOT charge lithium batteries unattended overnight unless the charger and setting are specifically designed for this.
DO NOT leave trailing cables across entrances, work areas or vehicle routes. For further information, see: Using Electric Storage Batteries Safely
HEALTH&SAFETYEXECUTIVE
ANNUALREPORT
The Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) recently published Annual Report for 2024-25 offers important insights that directly affect farm and estate businesses across the United Kingdom (UK). Agriculture remains one of the country’s highest risk sectors and the report highlights several developments and priorities that farm and estate owners and managers should be aware of. While extending much wider than just the agricultural sector, the report uses the following infographic to remind readers of the challenges faced.
CONTINUEDFOCUSONWORK-RELATEDILLHEALTH
Work-related ill health remains a major challenge, with 1.7 million people affected nationally. Of particular relevance to farming is the rise in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and stress-related illness. HSE carried out almost 3,000 MSD-focused inspections, finding that many businesses still rely heavily on lifting technique and ‘rotating jobs’ rather than redesigning tasks to remove strain. Farms should review manual handling and repetitive tasks such as lifting feed bags, moving livestock, milking duties and prolonged machinery operation.
HSE also reported that work-related stress now accounts for almost half of all UK work-related illness. Although often overlooked in rural businesses, stress has a direct impact on farm safety, concentration and decision-making. HSE’s Working Minds campaign now has thousands of members and offers simple, practical tools for small businesses.
ASBESTOS&OLDERFARMBUILDINGS
HSE continues to prioritise the risks from asbestos, especially in older agricultural buildings. Inspections found that around one in ten duty holders had failings in their management systems and asbestos containing materials (ACMs) were found in over a quarter of inspected sites. With many agricultural buildings dating from periods when ACMs were widely used, it is essential that farms and estates know where asbestos is located, keep an up-to-date asbestos management plan and ensure contractors follow correct procedures. Updated guidance and new awareness videos are now available to improve understanding of what asbestos looks like and how to manage it safely.
NOISE,DUST&RESPIRATORYRISKS
HSE carried out 1,700 assessments on noise-related hearing loss and issued over 100 improvement notices. This acts as a reminder that agriculture still has widespread harmful noise exposure from livestock, machinery and grain handling infrastructure. The report also highlights renewed efforts to reduce exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS), a risk for farms and estates carrying out stone cutting, building work or operating with certain soil types.
MENTALHEALTH&WORKFORCEWELLBEING
EMERGINGISSUES:NETZERO&NEWTECHNOLOGIES
KEYTAKEAWAYSFORFARMS&ESTATES:
Review manual handling tasks to redesign work rather than rely on ‘lifting correctly’.
Reassess asbestos risks in older farm buildings.
Protect against noise and dust in workshops, grain stores and livestock buildings.
Prioritise mental health and wellbeing as part of safety management.
Keep machinery maintenance, work at height controls and training up to date to avoid enforcement action.
The HSE’s message is clear: health risks now demand the same attention as traditional safety hazards. For farms and estates, where physical strain, ageing buildings and demanding work conditions are common, taking proactive steps now will reduce accidents, prevent illness and protect the workforce for the long term.
For further information, see: Health & Safety Executive Annual Report
COSHHREGULATIONS: WHATFARM&ESTATES NEEDTOKNOW
WHATCOSHHCOVERS
WHYCOSHHMATTERSONFARMS
EMPLOYERRESPONSIBILITIESUNDERCOSHH
Identifying and assessing substances by carrying out risk assessments to identify risks and determine who may be affected and how.
Preventing or adequately controlling exposure by following a hierarchy of elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Providing information, instruction and training to staff, who must be informed of the risks associated with substances they handle or encounter, and trained in their safe use, storage and disposal. COSHH also requires clear labelling and access to safety data sheets.
Monitoring, health surveillance and record keeping: where necessary, employers must monitor exposure levels and provide health surveillance, particularly for substances known to cause asthma, dermatitis or long term health effects.
Preparing for emergencies including spillages, accidental exposures, chemical reactions and silage related gas releases. Staff must understand what actions to take and what equipment to use.
RECENT&RELEVANTUPDATES
NEARMISSRECORDING
WHYACCIDENTBOOKSAREN’TENOUGH
THEPOWEROFNEARMISSREPORTING
Jumping clear of an unsighted reversing vehicle.
A PTO guard beginning to fail during operation.
A chemical container found leaking in a store.
Livestock breaking through a poorly maintained fence or gate
A heavy item falling from a mezzanine or big bale falling from a stack.
Entering a grain bin without a harness.
DRIVINGBETTERPERFORMANCETHROUGHLEARNING
Capturing near misses allows farms and estates to build a proactive safety culture. When patterns are spotted – such as repeated slips in the dairy or frequent machinery close calls – controls can be implemented before someone gets hurt. Encouraging near miss reporting also:
Improves risk awareness across teams.
Engages staff by involving them in safety improvements.
Highlights training needs and gaps in understanding.
Strengthens preventative maintenance and equipment inspection routines.
Supports continuous improvement, rather than waiting for accidents to escalate.
Farms and estates that actively record and act on near misses often see reductions in accidents and incidents over time because they are tackling risks earlier and more systematically
Some staff hesitate to report near misses because they fear blame or fault or believe the issue not to be serious. A strong safety culture removes this barrier: farm and estate owners and managers can encourage reporting by emphasising that near miss reporting is not about fault or criticism, making reporting simple, sharing learnings openly, acting promptly on information received and acknowledging staff who contribute to identifying hazards. Lastly, when staff see that reports lead to genuine improvements (e.g. fixed lighting, new guards or changes in livestock handling) they become more willing to speak up.
APRACTICALSTEPTOWARDSAFERFARMS
Accident books remain essential tools, but they capture only part of the safety picture. By combining accident records with active near miss reporting, farms and estates can shift from a reactive approach to a predictive, preventative one. This change not only reduces injuries but strengthens operational resilience, protects assets and creates a safer working environment for everyone on site. Near misses are opportunities, not warnings to be ignored: the more we learn from them, the fewer entries will result in the accident book.
WINTERREMINDER: MUDONTHEROAD
Practically, farms and estates should:
Prevent mud leaving fields where possible by scraping down machinery before entering public roads.
Clean affected stretches of road promptly, ideally throughout the working day or at least by the end of the day.
Use authorised road signage positioned for maximum visibility, such as Slippery Road or Mud on Road.
Keep written records of decisions relating to signage and road‑cleaning actions.
Ensure staff working on or near the road remain visible, using reflective, high visibility clothing.
Darker days, wetter weather and sustained field activity make winter the highest risk period for mud related road hazards. Proactive management not only reduces the likelihood of accidents but also demonstrates best practice and compliance with legal obligations.
ENFORCEMENTACTIVITY
Twice yearly, we bring you examples of recent health and safety accidents and prosecutions, both from agricultural and nonagricultural settings.
Worker’s Leg Amputated After Entanglement in Machinery
A 37 year old sawmill worker suffered life changing injuries after being dragged into moving machinery while attempting to clear a jammed log. The worker climbed onto a stationary conveyor bed and used a metal pole to shift a lodged log. However, the conveyor unexpectedly restarted and his legs were pulled into the moving chains and crushed against a stop plate He sustained catastrophic injuries, including the amputation of his right leg below the knee and significant trauma to his left leg. He survived, but with permanent, life altering consequences.
The HSE noted this incident was entirely preventable and stressed that lock‑out procedures and safe intervention protocols remain a key area of failure, despite their critical importance. Their investigation found that the company had no adequate risk assessment for the dangerous parts of the machine and did not implement measures to prevent access to moving parts or ensure machinery was fully stopped before workers entered danger zones. In addition, workers had not been provided with suitably safe systems of work, nor with appropriate information, instruction, training or supervision to ensure safe operation of the equipment.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £160,000 plus costs of £7,396.
The HSE commented: “The life-changing injuries sustained [ ] could easily have been prevented if the company had acted to identify and manage the risks involved, put a safe system of work in place and ensured that employees were appropriately trained and supervised.”
Sub-Contractor Seriously Injured in Fall from Height
A 29 year old sub contractor suffered serious, long term injuries after falling more than 15 feet through a fragile skylight while carrying out roof repair work at an industrial estate. He sustained multiple fractures, was unable to work for several months and has not regained full use of one leg. The incident occurred during a weekend push to speed up slow moving repair work, with additional workers drafted in and pressure to complete the job Despite the severity of the fall, the following day the company continued the roof repairs without implementing any additional safety measures.
The HSE highlighted that work at height remains one of the leading causes of fatal and major injuries in the United Kingdom, yet the company had failed to put basic protections in place, including edge protection and measures to prevent falls through fragile roof areas. Their investigation found that no adequate precautions had been taken to ensure worker safety on the roof. The company had neither erected scaffolding at roof edges nor arranged effective controls for fragile materials, leaving workers highly exposed to fall hazards This lack of planning and risk management was deemed a significant factor in the incident.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £80,000 plus costs of £2,630. The director who had been present throughout the work, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and received a three‑month prison sentence suspended for 12 months plus costs of £2,630.
The HSE remarked:
“These sentences should send a clear message to employers that HSE and the courts take a failure to comply with health and safety legislation extremely seriously. Too many workers are injured or killed every year as a result of falls from height [ ] these incidents can be prevented if reasonably practicable measures such as scaffolding or netting are put in place to protect workers.”
Delivery Driver Killed in Forklift Truck Incident
A delivery driver was fatally injured while operating a forklift truck at a depot in West Yorkshire. As he attempted to reverse the forklift onto a trailer, the vehicle fell from the side of the trailer bed. The driver was thrown from his seat, became trapped between the forklift chassis and a neighbouring trailer, and died at the scene.
The HSE found that the forklift had not undergone a full safety inspection following repair work to its transmission before being put back into use Post incident examination identified several defects that should have been discovered and rectified. Investigators also found that while the company carried out thorough pre delivery inspections for new customers, this standard was not applied when returning machines to existing customers In addition, many employees routinely failed to wear seatbelts while operating forklift trucks and no system existed to monitor or enforce seatbelt use, despite the vehicle being fitted with one. The HSE highlighted that employers must ensure work equipment is properly maintained and inspected and that, where fitted, seatbelts must be used.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £433,550 plus costs
The HSE remarked: “This was a tragic and preventable death […] [the driver] was placed at undue risk by operating a machine with underlying maintenance defects, which he would have been unaware of when attempting to reverse the forklift in the dark onto a trailer with an exposed edge […] every year there are fatal accidents caused by machinery which has not been properly maintained or inspected, and forklift truck drivers not wearing seatbelts. This case should underline to all businesses, which hire out or operate forklift trucks, the importance of keeping machinery in efficient working order and ensuring the use of seatbelts by forklift drivers is appropriately supervised.”
If you would like to discuss any topics raised in this issue of the Health & Safety Bulletin, do not hesitate to contact our Health & Safety Guidance expert.
ROBERTGAZELY PARTNER|SAFFRONWALDEN
robert.gazely@ceresrural.co.uk 07592 041 617