Free Guides & Templates

Our Farm Health & Safety guide takes you through some of the legal obligations you have as a business owner and provides information on the steps that you can take to safeguard yourself, and the welfare of your employees and the public.

This guide takes you through risk assessments, work equipment inspections, incident reporting and training, you can download and use the templates provided to assess and record risks, comply with regulations, report incidents and record training. 

After working through these areas you will be able to complete your Health & Safety Policy template.

Risk assessments are the starting point for protecting everyone from harm and form the foundation of a positive Health & Safety culture within your business. 

Download this risk assessment template and use the step-by-step guide within our Health & Safety guide to complete and document your risk assessments.

To comply with Health & Safety regulations, equipment needs to be suitable for its designed purpose, free from defects and inspected regularly.

To read more about what to consider, the frequency and types of work equipment inspections download our Health & Safety guide and follow the step-by-step guide of how to complete your work equipment inspections using this template. 

It is essential that after any incident in which someone is injured or nearly injured (a 'near miss'), the circumstances of the incident are recorded in an incident report form.

To understand more about incident reporting and when you must notify the HSE refer to our Health & Safety guide.

Download the incident report form template below, the Health & Safety guide details when and how to complete this template.

It is important that your employees are given all the resources they require in order to carry out their roles in the safest possible manner. Training needs to be relevant to employees' work and any risks they face. 

As an employer, you have a legal duty to ensure your staff are adequately trained to carry out their role safely, which includes training on any equipment they have to use as part of their role. 

It is important that records of training are completed, stored and reviewed regularly.

Refer to our Health & Safety guide for more information on employee training and follow the step-by-step guide on how to complete the training template you can download below.

UK law states that every business must have a policy for managing Health and Safety.

If you have 5 or more employees then your Health and Safety Policy must be written down. If you have
fewer than 5 employees then by law you do not have to write anything down, although it is useful to do so.

This policy sets out your business’s general policy for protecting employees and visitors
and shows how the policy will be implemented.

Download a Health & Safety Policy template now, and follow the step-by-step guide in our Health & Safety guide to help you complete this policy for your business.

Farming is a dangerous job and accidents can cause loss of earnings, fines and remedial work.

In this guide, we’ve given some general farm safety tips to remind you what to think about when carrying out daily tasks.

Our aim is to protect and support you, your farm and your family against the danger of fire. Farm fires can be devastating, and having fire prevention as a top priority makes good economic sense for all rural businesses.

This guide takes you through your legal obligations, as well as giving practical guidance on fire prevention, covering fire risk assessments, emergency procedure lists, fire safety logbooks, farm building inspections and vehicle inspections.

Through using this guide and completing the relevant forms, you can ensure that your legal obligations are met and that you are best positioned to prevent fires on your farm.

Fire risk assessments are a legal requirement for all UK businesses, including farms. If you have five or more employees, you must keep a written record of your fire risk assessment.

We highly recommend completing a written assessment regardless of how many people you employ, as this can include temporary workers like relief milkers or contractors such as vets.

Fire risk assessments should be reviewed every 12 months, or sooner if there is a major change on your farm. Local Fire & Rescue services can help you to assess fire risks on your farm, and contact numbers can be found in the Farm Fire Safety Guide.

Having an emergency procedure in the event of a fire could make the difference between a quickly contained fire and avoiding a large loss.

Farms are often harder to reach than other properties, and factors like multiple buildings, difficulty of access and water availability can increase the time it takes for the fire service to begin fighting the fire.

By preparing an emergency procedure for your farm, you can put yourself and your workers in the best position to reduce damage and protect livestock if a fire breaks out.

The fire safety logbook is your way of storing information about fire checks, fire inspections and fire training on the farm.

It provides an easy reference to see if the farm's fire safety equipment is functional, if routine inspections and tests are being followed and if there are any changes you can make to increase fire safety.

By completing your logbook, you can also meet fire risk assessment requirements.

Agricultural vehicles are essential for daily activities, but are, statistically, common catalysts for farm fires. Vehicle fires can be particularly damaging, as there is a high risk of total loss.

Vehicle inspection routines can minimise the chances of an accidental fire, through regular checks, maintenance and cleaning which all contributes to lowering the chances of a vehicle fire.

Through completing vehicle inspection checklists, you can keep track of your farm vehicles, monitor their status and plan in fire-reducing actions.

While optional, farm building inspection checklists and diagrams are a good way to keep track of the fire safety of your farm buildings, and a useful way to easily identify features that can help in the event of a fire.

Our checklists include daily, weekly, monthly and annual sections for keeping track of fire safety on your farm, along with space to include a diagram.