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The ‘green killing fields’


The continuing carnage affecting workers in agricultural commemorated at the 2023 Workers’ Memorial Day event in Chorley, Lancashire. Organised annually since 2005 by Unite activist Steve Turner of Chorley Trades Council, it was attended by 35 people all pleased to take away a copy of Landworker.


Landworker contributor Mark Metcalf told the audience that percentage wise agriculture remained the UK’s most dangerous sector to work in .


Deaths from moving vehicles doubled last year to 25 people killed. These included three members of the public, a child aged nine and 10 labourers. The figures are likely to be higher as fatal tractor accidents on public roads involving the police will not be reported to the HSE.


To highlight why the ‘green killing fields’ continue to exist, Mark highlighted the article An endless uphill struggle in the Spring 2023 Landworker edition in which retired farmworker Matthew Belsey appealed for safety on farms to be taken seriously by the next generation.


Belsey highlighted the unwillingness of the authorities to take robust action with the HSE having very few resources to enable them to do so and whereas there used to be full health and safety meetings annually


organised for safety reps by the HSE these have dwindled substantially. Little changes as a result.


HSE inspections have fallen dramatically and, in addition, the inspectors rarely have a safety background.


In the 90s the HSE worked with Unite to develop a safety rep scheme that visited southern farms in a pilot in 2002. It was jointly funded by HSE, NFU and Unite’s predecessor union. Around 75 per cent of employers afterwards said they’d changed their safety practices as a result of the pilot. Lack of funding ended the scheme.


There has also been the ending of the AWB in England with its sharp reduction in dedicated agricultural courses such that if an agricultural worker went on specific courses on hedge cutting or any number of occasional courses then they got an increase in their pay.


According to Unite activist Charlie Clutterbuck, Unite’s predecessor union, the TGWU, was also instrumental in creating vocational qualifications for agricultural health and safety levels.


“As the union rep on the HSE executive I pushed for and they responded together with the NFU and three awarding bodies such as the Skills Councils to create sets of vocational qualifications on health


8 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2023


and safety for agricultural workers. “Our then national officer Chris Kaufman got them into the AWB agreements so for a few years if you did one of these qualifications then you got a rise in pay. There was thus a real incentive to go on and get properly trained and work more safely.”


Mark reported how Landworker had backed Littleborough shepherd Brenda Sutcliffe, who died in 2016, who became the unofficial spokeswoman for thousands of farmers and labourers who were poisoned, often with fatal consequences, by organophosphate (OP) sheep dip.


Brenda calculated that between 1995 and 2005 over 1,000 shepherds ended their own lives because of OP sheep dip. Brenda fought tirelessly for families to be compensated.


Brenda’s booklet Cause and effect – the search for truth was first published in 2005. It became widely read across the globe.


Brenda and other campaigners forced the HSE to issue health warnings and instructions on the use of OPs and bring to an end the compulsory order on sheep dipping. But the products – used to tackle sheep scab – remain on the market with the added requirement that anyone purchasing the dip must attend a course – costing in total £150 – to achieve the necessary


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