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Dairy farmers have safety licked

Award-winning dairy farmers Michael and Angie Howie have pledged their support to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the latest phase of its “Shattered Lives” campaign to highlight the devastating consequences of accidents in the work place.

The couple, of Morwick Farm, near Warkworth, not only run a dairy farm but also a successful ice cream business, Morwick Dairy Ice Cream.

And while the enterprising couple has no worries about the quality of their product, they were keen to ensure they had safety licked and invited HSE inspectors into their premises to offer advice on how to avoid accidents as part of the Shattered Lives campaign.

Nationally, a total of 61 people died and more than 14,000 suffered serious injury as a result of a slip, trip or fall from height in British workplaces last year - in the North East there was one fatality and more than 1,900 injuries.

David Cole, Principal Inspector for HSE in the North East, said: “It’s great that companies such as Morwick Dairy Ice Cream are backing the campaign and doing their bit to help get the message across.

“People often view slips, trips and falls as trivial incidents, even comical but they are no joke to those who suffer major injuries, a lifetime of disability, time off work and in the worst cases death.

“The lives of workers and their families are shattered by the serious consequences of these types of accidents. Simple measures introduced by businesses can make a positive difference to safety in the workplace.”

For more about the HSE campaign, go to www.hse.gov.uk/slips/step/index.htm.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .