SSEN has announced a partnership with the National Farmers Union (NFU) this summer to host a series of health and safety workshops, in a bid to improve safety within agriculture.

The distribution operator for central southern England and NFU has lined up four sessions across SSEN's central southern England patch for NFU members to attend. The sessions will run in June, with each featuring briefings and demonstrations on farm transport, safe stacking, workshop safety and overhead powerline safety, with speakers from SSEN's Distribution Safety Team.

Peter Vujanic, Head of Safety for SSEN Distribution said: "SSEN's 'Look out, look up, look after yourself,' initiative aims to provide farmers with crucial information that could help save lives and prevent debilitating injuries, and we're looking forward to joining NFU for this series of safety talks to raise further awareness of our campaign.


"We describe this campaign, as 'crafted by farmers, for farmers,' as our ongoing collaboration with the agricultural community and NFU has heavily influenced the campaign's direction.

"Fortunately, SSEN has observed a decrease in non-injury events in farms and fields across our network in recent years, which is encouraging. However, approximately five workers are killed across the UK each year due to machinery coming into contact with overhead electricity lines. That's five too many and we hope that our campaign - and the advice we offer at these talks - will ensure everyone returns home safely at the end of their working day."

NFU South East Regional Director William White said: "These sessions aim to raise awareness of health and safety before the busy harvest season starts in the South East. Unfortunately, the agricultural industry can be a dangerous sector to work in – the statistics demonstrate this. And only last month the HSE launched a campaign to reduce farm vehicle deaths and injuries.

"We want our members and their staff to come away from these sessions having been reminded about where the main risks lie, with an awareness of the key rules and regulations and lastly a motivation to think safety first across a business and as individuals."

Events taking place across SSEN's distribution south area are:

• 01 June - Godalming, Surrey

• 06 June - High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

• 08 June - Winchester, Hampshire

• 20 June - East Cowes, Isle of Wight

Places are available to NFU members only and all enquiries can be directed to 01730 711950 or se.admin@nfu.org.uk.