Machinery
Section 6 - General Health and Safety When Working with Tractors and Machines

This section on general health and safety when working with tractors and machines will contain information on the following:

All activities should be carried out following safe working procedures which follow available codes of practice and relevant health and safety legislation. If corners are cut then this could result in an accident, damage to machinery and equipment and potential prosecution and fines.

All codes of practice have identified good practice adopting safe working procedures which will minimise the risk of accidents or damage.

With regard to the use of tractors and attachment you must be aware of the following:

With regard to the use of tractors and attachment you must be aware of the following:

Incidents – an event which has the potential to cause harm to yourself or others, or cause damage to materials or equipment, should be reported to your supervisor and recorded on an incident form.

When an accidents occur it is a legal requirement for that accident to be reported and your employer to record the accident in a designated Accident Book.

The employer is required to ensure that there is adequate first aid provision for the type of work that is carried out on the farm. Everyone working on the farm should know :

The manufacturers instructions are specific guide to the efficient, safe operation of their equipment.

The HSWA 1974 is an important act covering the legal duties of:

The purpose of the act is to provide a legal framework to encourage high standards of health and safety at work.

Its aims are:

This is a general statement of the policies and procedures relating to safety on the farm.

It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that suitable and sufficient risk assessments are carried out where there is a significant risk of injury or ill health as a result of work activity.

If there are more than 5 employees the significant findings have to be recorded.

If risk assessments have been produced, all employees need to be aware of the assessment and the employer needs to explain the assessment and inform all staff of the hazards, risk, and control measures they need to follow to minimise the risk of harm.

PUWER 98 is one of the most important sets of regulations dealing with the safety of vehicles and machinery provided for use at work.

In general terms, the Regulations require that work equipment is:

Briefly require that tractors are:

These regulations apply to lifting equipment and operations and tractors. Front end loaders are part of these. To comply then employers and operators need to: