| Hazards identified | |
| chemicals | 67% |
| overwork/stress | 54% |
| machinery | 51% |
| back strains | 41% |
| slips, trips and falls | 41% |
| working alone | 41% |
| noise | 35% |
| dusts | 34% |
| RSI | 34% |
| infections | 30% |
A TUC survey of workplace Safety
Representatives has shown that the main health and safety concern for
agriculture and fishing sector workers is chemical hazards.
Two thirds of the representatives identified chemicals as a
major concern to workers. The TUC will be raising this information at the Health
and Safety Commission's advisory committee on agriculture, and pressing for
stronger action on chemicals and stress.
The TUC's senior safety officer Owen Tudor said: "Unions
in the agriculture sector have been pressing for a toxic use reduction strategy
to make sure that farm-workers and the environment are protected from harmful
chemicals. This survey shows that it is not enough to ban chemicals proved to be
toxic-we need to be far more cautious about what we put on farm lands."
TUC press release, 14/10/96
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 35,
March 1997, page 19]