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AXA UK, which sells farm insurance via brokers, has launched a risk management website for farmers.
Called “Home Safely,” the online tool came to fruition with the support of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), whose data shows 33 fatalities from farming, fishing, and forestry accidents in 2017/2018. In fact, it’s been noted that of all industry sectors agriculture has the highest rate of fatal injury.
The website, which was created by Ignition NBS and was introduced at the just concluded British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) conference, will not only provide practical advice on how workers can go about their job safely but also enable farmers to assess their own risks and identify areas of improvement.
It includes links to text and video resources, many of which are from the HSE, and does not require passwords for easy access. In addition, the website will not retain nor share any customer data with AXA.
“Farmers need to realise that deaths, injury, and ill-health in agriculture are not inevitable,” said Andrew Turner, head of agriculture at HSE. “The causes are well known and precautions that need to be taken to prevent accidents and ill-health often straightforward.
“The AXA farm safety app is a welcome initiative that provides farmers with an opportunity to gauge their performance and access further advice that will help them to understand the risks, plan their work, and use the right controls to ensure that they return home safely from work.”
The new tool was launched at BIBA 2019 as AXA believes brokers will play a crucial role in promoting it to farmers.
“We’re not here to just underwrite agricultural policies; we want to be by farmers’ sides and make sure they go home safely,” stated AXA’s Dougie Barnett, director of mid-market and customer risk management.
“We hope they’ll use the app and find it useful. Farming risks at the moment are way too high; we hope this tool will help make a difference.”
