MANAGING RISK ON THE FARM

Seminar for Horticulture Producers

FBD Insurance Perspective

Stewart Gavin FBD , Agricultural Lines Product Manager & Underwriting Manager

(Farm & Business)

Ciaran Roche, FBD Risk Manager

Why

- Viability of insurance costs

- Ability to source insurance

- Control the cost

You can control the controllable

Managing Risk

Insurance Portfolio’s

- Existing Business clients

- New Business clients

Portfolio Management

Employers Liability

- Annual wage roll up date

- Breakdown you wage roll ( Clerical , Managerial

, General operatives )

- Obtain details from your accountant if

necessary

Insurance Tips

Public / Products Liability

- Turnover

- Split turnover into various business lines if

multiple commodities or supplies

Specific details will allow underwriters to

evaluate and subsequently rate more

intuitively.

Insurance Tips

- Claims inflation

- Claims Culture – Ireland

- Claims Cost ( Investigation , Legal cost , Admin

costs , claimant settlement or defences )

Claims

Claims Culture – Workforce

- Seasonal employees

- Mix of workforce

- Nature of employees activities

- Opportunities for advancement / promotion

- Uncertainty – Contracts , Future , Brexit

- Long term plans

- Mix of family or relations in work force

Claims Culture

- Employers Liability Claims

- Competent Employees

- Risk Management

- Paper Trail - Slips/Trips/Falls

- Manual Handling

- Machine Guarding

- Work At Height

- Vehicles

Risk Management Introduction

- Slips / Trips / Falls

- Manual Handling

- Machinery

- Falls Form Heights

Employers Liability Claims

Recruitment policy

- Having an effective recruitment policy is a crucial part of managing health

and safety.

- It is critical that all new employees you select are reliable, trustworthy,

competent and medically fit to carry out the work they are employed to do

(Medical Fitness to Work).

-

- It is always worth taking time and due care when selecting new

employees.

- Good employees are a huge asset, but unsuitable employees can be

detrimental to a business. With this in mind, it is important that the

company has a robust interview process and that pre-employment

medicals and medical questionnaires are used as appropriate to confirm

an employee’s medical fitness to work.

-

Competent Employees

Recruitment policy

- Consider for instance, that it is not uncommon to see claims for a back injury as a result

of an employee aggravating a pervious or underlying injury during a manual handling

operation.

-

- Qualifications and reference should be verified and checked to ensure that potential employees

have the appropriate competence, qualifications and work ethic.

- Working contracts should be put in place so as to clarify company expectations, working

conditions, disciplinary procedures and employee obligations.

- All employees should be given induction training on their first day at work and this should include

the communication of the Safety statement.

Competent Employees

1. Job experience is also an important predictor of injury risk. Adjusting for exposure,

the report found that the rate of injury for those with a job tenure of one month or

less was 16.8 per cent, compared to a rate of 2.4 per cent for those who had a

tenure of over five years.

2. Employees with tenures of less than six months were four times more likely to

have experienced a workplace injury that those with a tenure of over five years.

3. The odds of injury decrease with age. A lower injury risk for older workers may be

due to greater job experience, lower risk-taking and to a selective reduction in

involvement in heavy manual tasks.

4. Longer hours of work are associated with a higher probability of both injury and ill-

health.

5. Highly variable working hours were also linked to higher injury and illness risks.

6. Those working shift patterns and those working at night were more likely to

experience both injury and illness.

“Trends and Patterns in Occupational Health and

Safety in Ireland”, May 2015 Report, produced by the

ESRI came up with the following conclusions:

Specific consideration should be

given to seasonal & part-time

employees.

1. It will help prevent accidents from occurring.

2. It will be used as a key component in defending claims.

Why is a Good Risk Management

Policy so Important?

- Policy - sets clear

commitment, objective,

responsibilities, procedure

for the organisation.

- Planning - identify risks -

control measures.

- Implementation & Operation

- Checking & Corrective

Action - monitor

performance, using accident

reports etc.

- Management Review - new

legislation, new technology,

new structure

Effective Risk Management

Involves

- Safety Statement / Risk Assessments - Consider Language Barrier

- Managers / Supervisors / Safety Officer -

Supervision & Enforcement - Reward Safety Performance

- Accident & Incident Report Books / Files

- Safety Signs

- Training, PPE

- Safety Audits & Checklist

- Camera Images

Paper Trail (essential for fighting claims)

- Identify every hazard,

associated risks and

appropriate control

measures.

- Complete a risk Safety

Statement and ensure it is

communicated to all

employees and that they

sign off on it. The S.S.

must be updated at least

annually.

Risk Assessment

- 1. The avoidance of risks.

- 2. The evaluation of unavoidable risks.

- 3. The combating of risks at source.

- 4. The adaptation of work to the individual, especially as regards the design of

places of work, the choice of work equipment and the choice of systems of work,

with a view, in particular, to alleviating monotonous work and work at a

predetermined work rate and to reducing the effect of this work on health.

- 5. The adaptation of the place of work to technical progress.

- 6. The replacement of dangerous articles, substances or systems of work by

safe or less dangerous articles, substances or systems of work.

- 7. The giving of priority to collective protective measures over individual

protective measures.

- 8. The development of an adequate prevention policy in relation to safety, health

and welfare at work, which takes account of technology, organisation of work,

working conditions, social factors and the influence of factors related to the working

environment.

- 9. The giving of appropriate training and instructions to employees.

General Principles of Prevention

(Hierarchy of Controls)

- Safety Audits should be

carried out on a regular

basis (use checklists).

- Supervision and

enforcement of all Safe

Operational Procedures is

essential.

Supervision & Enforcement

- Wet Surfaces / Slippery Surfaces (e.g. toilet

area)

- Poor Housekeeping / Cleaning Procedures

- Poor Condition of Surfaces

- Poor Lighting

- Poor Design of Steps, Stairs & Ramps (not

compliant with Technical Guidance Document

Part K of the Building Regulation)

Main Causes of Slip, Trip & Fall

Accidents

Manual handling and ergonomics

- By definition, manual handling is “any transporting or supporting of a load by one or

more employees, and includes lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or

moving a load, which by reason of its characteristics or unfavourable ergonomic

conditions, involves risk, particularly of back injury, to employees.”

-

- Manual handling can cause serious injuries in the form of Musculoskeletal

disorders (MSDs) if not carried out safely. MSDs are conditions affecting the

musculoskeletal system and can present in the tendons, muscles, joints, blood

vessels and/or nerves of the limbs and back. Symptoms may include pain,

discomfort, numbness and tingling in the affected area and can differ in severity

from mild and periodic, to severe, chronic and debilitating conditions.

-

- In addition, Repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) are very common where repetitive

work is carried out at poorly designed stations of work.

Manual Handling

- Eliminating manual handling where practically possible and reducing manual

handling to a minimum where this is not practical.

- Providing lifting equipment (forklifts, pallet trucks, trolleys, conveyors, lifts, etc.)

- Reducing the weight of goods being handled.

- Organising work in a manner that reduces the manual handling effort (smaller

distances over which goods need to be carried, placing heavy products at waist

level, storing products in a manner so as to avoid awkward posture).

- Carry out Ergonomic Risk Assessments at stations of work where repetitive

tasks are carried out. The aim of these assessments is to reduce bending, twisting

and other repetitive movements. Rotating employees between working repetitive

tasks also plays an important role in minimising risk.

Manual Handling – Managing

the Hazard

- Ergonomic Design

Manual Handling

- Safeguards are essential for protecting workers from needless and

preventable injuries such as crushed hands and arms, severed fingers,

and blindness.

- Accidents usually result from a combination of factors that includes both

hazardous machine condition and careless human actions. The intent of

machine safeguarding is to minimize the risk of accidents from machine-

operator contact.

Machine Guarding

Machine Guarding - Employees must be trained in the safe operating procedures of each

machine they operate.

- Employees must be made aware of the hazards, risks and safety control measures for each machine.

- Where practically possible all moving parts must be guarded.

- At points where machine parts can not be guarded, warning signs must be placed on the machine.

- Warning signs must also be placed on machinery guards.

- Most modern day machines have protection devices fitted – such as interlocks (It is important that the these devices are audited on a regular basis.)

- Many old machines need to be modified to make them safe as safety standards have improved over the years. This work must be carried out by a competent person)

- Check for CE marking

- Robust

- Not give rise to additional risk

- Not easy to by-pass

- Located at an adequate distance from the

danger zone

- Cause minimum obstruction to the view

- Enable maintenance work to be carried out

without removal of the guard

Guards -General Requirements

- Fixed

- Moveable

- Adjustable

Guard Types

Fixed Guards

Movable Guards

Adjustable Guards

- Interlock switch

- Light Curtain

- Pressure sensitive pads

- Two handed controls

Protection Devices

Interlock Switch

Light Curtain

Pressure Sensitive Pads

Two Handed Controls

Machine Lock Out & Tag Out

Procedures Lockout-tagout (LOTO) or lock and tag is a safety procedure which is used in industry and research settings to ensure that dangerous machines are properly shut off and not able to be started up again prior to the completion of maintenance or servicing work. It requires that hazardous energy sources be "isolated and rendered inoperative" before work is started on the equipment in question. The isolated power sources are then locked and a tag is placed on the lock identifying the worker who has placed it.

When two or more workers are working on different parts of a larger overall system, the locked-out device is first secured with a folding scissors clamp that has many padlock holes capable of keeping it closed. Each worker applies their own padlock to the clamp.

Engineering Solution

Note the physical guard, the interlock guard,

the switch to turn off the interlock guard,

the emergency stop control, the

moveable machine controls and the foot

pedal controls.

Hierarchy for working at height

- The hierarchy for managing work at height must be adhered to:

- 1. Avoid working at height where this is reasonably practicable.

- 2. Use appropriate work equipment or other measures to prevent falls where you cannot avoid

working at height (e.g. a cherry picker).

- 3. Where you cannot eliminate the risk of a fall, use work equipment or other measures to

minimise the distance and consequences of a fall (e.g. a safety harness).

Managing the hazard

- It is essential that:

- • all work at height is properly planned, organised, supervised and carried out safely;

- • the place where work at height is done is safe;

- • all work at height takes account of weather conditions;

- • those involved in work at height are instructed and trained;

- • equipment for work at height is appropriately inspected;

- • the risks from fragile surfaces are properly controlled; and

- • injury from falling objects is prevented

Work at Height

Unsafe Construction

- Construction & Maintenance

Work at Height

- Vehicle accidents are the main

cause of workplace fatal accidents.

With this in mind a formal traffic

management plan should be drafted

and implemented.

- Components of the traffic

management system may include a

written plan, traffic plans, defined

traffic routes, traffic marshalling,

safety barriers, warning signage,

traffic markings, defined car parking

areas, defined loading and

unloading areas, pedestrian

pathways and crossing points,

concave mirrors, speed limits, etc.

Traffic Management

& Vehicle Safety

A fire prevention and risk control strategy for a building is

made up of 3 essential measures:

1. Passive fire safety controls

2. Active fire safety controls

3. Management fire safety controls - General Controls

- Administration Controls

Each of these elements must be adequately implemented

for a fire prevention strategy to work efficiently and

effectively.

Fire Prevention & Risk Control

- Don’t leave safety to chance

- Make it your responsibility to eliminate hazards and

reduce risk (and therefore the likelihood of accidents).

- Management must ensure that a strong safety culture

prevails throughout their staff force.

- Employ competent staff – train them adequately.

- Maintain the premises in good physical condition and

ensure that good housekeeping procedures are

followed.

- Implement a comprehensive risk management system

and enforce it and police it strictly.

Conclusion

Questions ????????