The risk of improperly guarded farm
equipment is very high, and death or serious injury is a real likelihood if
workers come into contact with this equipment. Farmers and their employees must
work alongside each other to prevent accidents from occurring in this area -
while no win no fee solicitors Preston may be able to help people recover
compensation after being injured by unguarded machinery, these incidents are
always avoidable and it is essential for employers to prevent them from
occurring in the first place.
Some of the ways agricultural workers can
prevent these incidents from occurring include:
- Never clear blockages from a
machine with a Power Take Off (PTO) while it is in operation. Turn off and disengage the power, stop the engine, put the handbrake on and the controls
into neutral, take out the key and wait for any movement to stop.
- Check that nobody is at risk when engaging a PTO
- Shield the PTO so that people cannot accidentally contact it
- Check guards on a regular basis, remembering that broken and badly fitted guards are as good as useless
- Do not wear loose clothing that could become entangled in moving machinery
-Only buy guards that have a
Declaration of Conformity and the CE mark. Ensure they are the right size to fully enclose the PTO shaft or the moving machinery and that they reach the
necessary standards
Tragic, avoidable incidents are
particularly common in the agricultural sector, with personal injury solicitors Preston seeing a huge number of completely preventable incidents. Regulation 11
(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations state that companies
must ensure they take measures to prevent access to any dangerous parts of
machinery, while Regulation 3 (1) of the Management of Health and Safety at
Work Regulations 1999 state that they must take out suitable, sufficient risk
assessments to protect the well being of all members of staff.
