Unveiled at the British Insurance Brokers’ Association conference in Manchester, Home Safely is an online tool that has been designed with the support of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Agriculture has the highest rate of fatal injury of all industry sectors; HSE figures show 33 people were killed in farming, fishing and forestry accidents in 2017/2018. Cattle and vehicles are among the biggest contributing factors.
The Home Safely web tool helps farmers assess their own risks and identify the areas they can improve. It sums up the rules for using tractors safely and lists tips on machinery maintenance or overhead power lines. It stresses the dangers associated with bales and other farm features, providing practical advice on how workers can go about their job safely.
The website is being unveiled at the BIBA conference because AXA UK sells farm insurance via brokers, who will thus play a crucial role in promoting this safety tool to farmers.
“We’re not here to just underwrite agricultural policies; we want to be by farmers’ sides and make sure they go home safely. We hope they’ll use the app and find it useful. Farming risks at the moment are way too high; we hope this tool will help make a difference.” [Dougie Barnett, Director, Mid Market and Customer Risk Management, AXA Insurance]
“Farmers need to realise that deaths, injury and ill-health in agriculture are not inevitable. The causes are well known and precautions that need to be taken to prevent accidents and ill-health often straightforward.
“The AXA farm safety app is a welcome initiative that provides farmers with an opportunity to gauge their performance and access further advice that will help them to understand the risks, plan their work and use the right controls to ensure that they return home safely from work.” [Andrew Turner, Head of Agriculture, Health and Safety Executive]
For easy access, the Home Safely website doesn’t require any password. Created by Ignition NBS, it doesn’t retain nor share any customer data with AXA. The online risk appraisal tool includes links to a range of text and video resources, including many from the HSE. It is available at https://homesafely.app/agriculture/
