ATVs Not Used Safely on Farms
An exhaustive inspection of Scottish farms by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has found that 62% of the farms do not use ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) like quad bikes carefully. Fifty eight farms were inspected over a period of two weeks this month. The news came even as the Royal Highland Show opened to the public on June 24.
Among thirty six improvement notices that were issued, twenty five were for driving ATVs without suitable training, ten were for failure to use appropriate head gear and one was for inadequate maintenance. On an average, two deaths and more than thousand injuries related to ATVs are reported each year. In the last four years, three farm workers have died in accidents involving All Terrain Vehicles.
Secretary of State for
HSE Director for Scotland Paul Stollard commented that deaths and serious injuries are sustained in quad bike-related accidents each year. The unsatisfactory safety measures indicated that farmers still weren’t assessing risks properly and now they had the opportunity to make amends.
Stollard added that transport-related accidents are the second major cause of deaths in the agricultural industry in Scotland. Wearing appropriate head gear like helmets or checking the ATV’s brakes, tyre pressure and throttle before each ride takes a few minutes and failing to take these measures can lead to fatalities.
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