Farmers urged to attend safety day

The Health and Safety Executive is calling all farmers in the Shetland area to attend its safety awareness day in Lerwick at the beginning of July.

Aimed specifically for those who work on small farms and crofts, the event will provide a hands-on, practical demonstration of how to lower the risk of injury from tasks such as manual handling and working at height.

There will be six real-life scenarios acted out, each lasting around 15 to 20 minutes, presented by trainers who themselves are working farmers, with HSE staff on hand to deal with any queries that may arise.

Admission is free and the demonstrations will be held on Wednesday July 2nd between 13:00GMT and 16:00GMT and will be repeated again at 16:30GMT until 19:30GMT at Shetland marts Co-operative, Stamleyhill Road, Lerwick.

The HSE claims the agricultural sector has one of the highest fatal accident rates of all industries in the UK.