The United Kingdom's Farm Safety Week is expanding its message this year by encouraging the agriculture industry to recognize the lasting impact of serious farm injuries alongside the continued focus on workplace fatalities.
While fatalities remain a critical measure of farm safety, campaign organizers say thousands of agricultural workers experience life-changing injuries and work-related illnesses each year that often receive far less attention.
Agriculture continues to have one of the poorest workplace safety records in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Beyond fatal incidents, many workers face permanent injuries from falls, machinery entanglements, vehicle incidents and livestock accidents, along with chronic health conditions such as musculoskeletal disorders.
The campaign emphasizes that serious injuries can leave workers with chronic pain, reduced mobility, disability or the inability to continue farming. Those impacts often extend beyond the injured person, affecting families, farm operations and rural communities through financial hardship and operational challenges.
Farm Safety Week also highlights the importance of learning from near misses. Rather than dismissing incidents where no one was seriously hurt, organizers encourage farmers to treat them as warning signs that safety improvements are needed before a more severe accident occurs.
The campaign argues that preventing injuries should receive the same attention as preventing fatalities and that sharing personal stories of injury can help make farm safety more relatable and encourage safer decision-making.
According to the U.K. Health and Safety Executive, 29 people died in agriculture, forestry and fishing during 2025-26, including seven members of the public. Three of those public fatalities involved children. Over the past five years, nine children have died in incidents on Britain's farms.
The agency identified vehicles, machinery, falls, animals and falling objects as the leading causes of fatal incidents and said many of those deaths could have been prevented through better risk management.
Wayne Owen, HM inspector of health and safety for agriculture, said meaningful improvements will require a cultural shift across the industry, with health and safety becoming part of everyday decision-making on every farm. He said lasting progress depends on farmers taking responsibility for protecting themselves, their families, employees and members of the public while continuing to work with industry organizations, including the Farm Safety Foundation.
Farm Safety Week organizers said the campaign's goal is to broaden conversations about agricultural safety by recognizing that surviving a farm accident does not always mean escaping its consequences. They encourage farmers to focus on preventing harm in all its forms and to view safety as a daily commitment rather than simply avoiding fatal outcomes.
Source: Farm Safety Foundation, "Farm Safety Week 2026 – It’s About People"