Mr. Brian Higgisson:

In reply to Deputy Ó Cuív about the compliance rate with safety statements, I will link my response to the issue Deputy Penrose raised regarding the complexity of the safety statement. The authority has put in place a code of practice which is a means whereby the farmer can prepare a safety statement. It was circulated to all farmers in 2008. The idea is that it makes it a step-by-step process to aid the farmers, rather than presenting them with a blank sheet and asking them to do it. That was one of the key initiatives taken. It is one of the key things we look at when we talk to the farmer as part of our inspection process, or any employer or person in a place of work. We ask if they have a safety statement. Our figures from last year, based on our inspections then, show that 65% of farmers had their safety statement or a code of practice available on their farm. That is the first aspect of it.

Second, we then asked them who prepared the safety statement. To refer back to Deputy Penrose's comment, if one can get farmers to engage in doing it themselves it is the best way to proceed. A total of 91% of the farmers have indicated to us that they do this themselves. That is a very positive outcome.

There are some concerns about it. The highest one is that part of the code of practice results in the generation of an action list for the farmer to improve safety on their farm, but only 52% of those we reviewed had the action list prepared. There was a great deal of work done, but it had not gone to the final stage of listing what work needed to be done. Where there was an action list, 60% of the actions had been done. Again, there is an issue here in that the work is started but it might not be completed. This ties into our approach where we are looking at knowledge transfer discussion groups, where farmers can possibly engage together on this process and exchange information with each other. Rather than be alone in trying to do this themselves, they could work together to bring it to completion. That is the position with the safety statement.

On the question about falls from heights, the vast majority of falls from heights on farms are associated with either maintenance or repair work at height, often externally such as with shed repairs. A key problem we have seen in recent years is translucent lights on the surface of a farm shed in terms of Perspex sheeting. When one is within the shed looking up it seems obvious where they are but as the shed weathers and ages, if one is on the roof they are not as noticeable and, unfortunately, people can step in the wrong location. The answer to the question is that the vast majority of them would be associated with either maintenance or repair work to sheds or other farm buildings.