UK Agricultural Safety Campaign Wins Gold Award
"Make the Promise" has persuaded 15,000 farmers thus far to promise to work safely for the sake of their families.
A Health and Safety Executive "Make the Promise" campaign urging British farmers to do everything possible to prevent themselves from being hurt at work won a gold award Dec. 9 in the Direct Marketing Awards competition held in London. The campaign, which included a direct mail appeal asking farmers to promise to work safely for the sake of their families, has persuaded 15,000 farmers to make that promise, HSE said.
The mailed appeal contained a "promise knot" and an invitation to send for more knots, which the farmers were encouraged to post around their farms as a reminder of their promise. The mailing and related advertisements acknowledge the pressures on farmers, who often work alone; the risks and shortcuts they take in their work; and the families and businesses devastated each year by deaths and injuries.
While about 1.5 percent of workers in the United Kingdom's are engaged in agriculture, the industry accounts for 20 percent of work-related fatalities every year. "This is much more important than the awards to commercial companies. You can't compare marketing consumer products with saving lives," saod Judith Donovan, HSE board member and agricultural champion, who accepted the award.
Phase two of the campaign begins this month with mail and advertising about farmers who have been injured in the field and families who are suffering the loss of a loved one.