Health and Safety

Make it safe

Please do not let Health and Safety put you off. The key is to be aware of the risks and plan around them.

• Let your insurers know what you are doing.
• Ask a friend to help you complete a risk assessment by checking the farm beforehand as they are more likely to spot any potential hazards that you may walk past every day.
• Read the guidance contained in the Health and Safety Executive publication 'Preventing or controlling ill health from animal contact at visitor attractions (with teachers' supplement)' and if you plan tractor and trailer rides the guidance notes on ‘Carriage of passengers on farm trailers’

To download LEAF’s generic risk assessment and the Health and Safety Executive guidance on health and safety, biosecurity, insurance and risk assessments, click the links below.

Risk assessment 
HSE: Preventing or controlling ill health from animal contact at open farms
HSE: Carriage of Passengers on Farm Trailers  
Health and safety, biosecurity and insurance guidance notes

How clean should my farm be?

No one is expecting it to be pristine if you are opening for just one day. But you should assess your farm for the risk of visitors becoming soiled. Here are some pointers:

• Segregate parts of the yard where livestock will gather, such as collecting yards, and prevent access to these areas, as well as manure heaps and slurry pits.
• Clear the routes you want visitors to use and make sure they understand that if they contact animals directly or hand railings, footwear or soiled clothes, they need to thoroughly wash and dry their hands before eating (see below).
• Where you are conducting tours of the dairy, for example, keep public areas washed down and free of faecal matter.
• Where visitors mingle with livestock, clean down gates and partitions, ensure there is a good layer of clean bedding on the day, and watch for areas of faecal seepage.
• If you have a nature trail that passes through a field containing livestock, you should point visitors to hand-washing facilities on exit, using signs or supervision. Do not allow picnics in these fields.

Golden rules

Tractor and trailers

• There must be a handrail around the trailer
• Seats must be fixed. If bales are used they should be strapped or tied to the bed of the trailer
• The trailer must have independent brakes

Interaction with animals

If you allow your visitors to mingle with animals

• You must provide hand-washing facilities. The water must be running, preferably warm and soap must be provided, preferably liquid. 
• You must segregate eating areas and animal-contact areas, putting hand-washing facilities between them.
• You must encourage your visitors to wash their hands. Signage is essential. It is best to supervise the animal-contact area.

Farmers Weekly has published a really useful academy, written by HSE, to help farmers and managers of open farms. It contains a test-yourself section, which is useful for farm staff and helpers.