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Back to Menu Come Home Safe Dumfries and Galloway Standard Feb 2009 The sorting system, that operates when the mail arrives in our house, let me down badly last month. Every farmer has his own system for sorting through mail and none of them can be described as an exact science. But, basically if it doesn’t look like a cheque or some other notice of a payment the chances of it being opened are greatly reduced. The envelope that arrived early in January marked as being from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had no chance of being opened by me. Such things are for the weemin of the house who concern themselves with girly things like safety. Later that day and out of the blue my eldest confronted me just as I had lit the fire in our living room. “Daddy”, she exclaimed, “I want you to promise to come home safely and be careful when you are working on the farm.” I duly promised, as any good father would, and having done so I was presented with a piece of twine. Not realising the significance of the little bow shaped piece of baler twine I tossed it into the fire. Big mistake! It transpires that by committing this act of barbarism I had broken my promise; not to mention breaking SEPA’s code on the disposal of plastic. The wails of protest from the girl sent me scrambling into the fireplace to retrieve the thing. The result was I burnt my hand but managed to save the slightly shrivelled bow. Not a good start for a safety campaign. The bow, which is made out of baler twine, is part of the HSE campaign called - Make the promise come home safely. At first glance it looks like just a piece of nonsense and not something that testosterone fuelled farmers should pay much heed to but the statistics that come along with it don’t make good reading. In 2007/2008, there were 42 deaths on farms in the UK and while less than 1.5 per cent of the working population is employed in agriculture; the sector is responsible for between 15 and 20 per cent of fatalities to workers each year. Two thirds of all deaths in farming are self-employed farmers and within this group, older farmers are the most at risk. They account for over half of the deaths to the self-employed. It’s a sobering thought that as a self employed farmer who has had no formal training I am within the group that is most likely to have a fatal accident. The HSE reference to “older farmers” is a bit ambiguous but if I don’t qualify for inclusion in this group today I might someday soon. Inevitably, in the weeks following the launch of the campaign, there was plenty of talk in the farming world about the wee loops of twine. Most of the chat revolved around just where the HSE executive could stick their bits o’string. Some of the younger men even suggested that they could hang it on their body to impress their partner. I tried this myself but Janet said it made me look ridiculous. She suggested I should hang one on my other ear as well. On reflection I have to say that the HSE are to be congratulated on their very clever idea. It got us all talking and thinking about safety issues. My, slightly singed, bow of twine now takes pride of place on top of our mantelpiece. Sitting oddly, as it does, amongst the ornaments there’s scarce a day goes by that it doesn’t catch my eye. The prospect of a widow with three young children living here doesn’t appeal to any of us. So, I’m going to do my best to keep the promise and come home safely. |