Visiting casual or temporary workers including lorry drivers and vets can be at risk on farms, particularly if they are not familiar with the premises.
Farmers have a duty to ensure that they are safe while on the premises, and the visitor has a duty to cooperate with the occupier. Keeping premises safe includes providing safe means of access – eg handrails on stairs and ramps where necessary, and safety hoops or rest stages on long vertical fixed ladders used regularly, eg external access to grain bins.
Make sure that no one can fall from open edges such as catwalks above grain bins or feed lofts. Action is required if there is a risk of injury of falls from walls, structures, into tanks, pits or onto projecting objects.
Further guidance on falls from height can be found on HSE’s agriculture micro site general workplace safety and preventing falls.
