Health and safe­ty guid­ance for Open Farm Sun­day events

Health and safe­ty is cru­cial but should not over­shad­ow the enjoy­ment of your event. With thought­ful prepa­ra­tion and adher­ence to best prac­tices, you can cre­ate a safe, edu­ca­tion­al, and fun expe­ri­ence for everyone. 

Below is essen­tial infor­ma­tion to help you plan a safe event.

Key safe­ty requirements

Insur­ance

• Noti­fy your insur­ance provider about the event and ensure you have a min­i­mum of £5 mil­lion pub­lic lia­bil­i­ty insurance.

Risk assess­ment

• Com­plete a com­pre­hen­sive risk assess­ment to iden­ti­fy haz­ards, eval­u­ate risks, and imple­ment con­trol measures.
• Use the gener­ic risk assess­ment pro­vid­ed by LEAF in the OFS hand­book, as a frame­work to address spe­cif­ic con­cerns, such as ani­mal inter­ac­tions and vis­i­tor movement.

Ani­mal con­tact and hygiene

Activ­i­ties like hold­ing lambs or stroking calves are mem­o­rable, but pre­cau­tions are nec­es­sary to pre­vent ill­ness­es such as E. coli O157. Fol­low these guidelines:

• Refer to the Indus­try Code of Prac­tice for pre­vent­ing and con­trol­ling ill health from ani­mal con­tact, avail­able on the Access to farms web­site.
• Key doc­u­ments, includ­ing a sum­ma­ry guide and risk man­age­ment tool, can be down­loaded for prac­ti­cal advice.
• Ide­al­ly do not allow vis­i­tors in pens with livestock.

Hand­wash­ing and hygiene

Prop­er hand­wash­ing is vital for pre­vent­ing the spread of bac­te­ria. Antibac­te­r­i­al gels are NOT a sub­sti­tute for prop­er handwashing.

Hand­wash­ing sta­tions must include:

• Run­ning water (cold is accept­able in June).
• Liq­uid soap (no bar soap).
• Paper tow­els (not cloth towels).

Super­vi­sion and sig­nage are essential:

• Place clear signs at ani­mal con­tact areas, hand­wash­ing facil­i­ties, and eat­ing zones.
• Super­vise hand­wash­ing areas to ensure thor­ough clean­ing (soap lath­er, rinse under run­ning water, and dry with paper tow­els) and make sure your helpers/​volunteers know role, under­stand the risks and what vis­i­tors need to do.

Ani­mal areas

To min­i­mize risks in areas where vis­i­tors inter­act with livestock:

• Keep ani­mal con­tact areas a good dis­tance from eat­ing zones.
• Pro­vide fresh bed­ding for ani­mals and ensure gates, par­ti­tions, and walk­ways are clean and free of fae­cal mat­ter or seepage.
• Muck heaps should be cor­doned off and inaccessible.
• After vis­it­ing, encour­age vis­i­tors to clean hand, shoes, pushchairs, and oth­er equipment.

Fol­low biose­cu­ri­ty guide­lines to pro­tect your live­stock and safe­guard vis­i­tor health.

Trac­tor and trail­er rides

If offer­ing trac­tor and trail­er rides, safe­ty is para­mount. Ensure trail­ers meet the require­ments detailed in the HSE doc­u­ment Car­riage of Pas­sen­gers on Farm Trail­ers (AIS36(rev1). These include:

• Stur­dy handrails and kick boards around the trailer.
• Fixed seat­ing, such as strapped hay bales or benches.
• Inde­pen­dent brakes for the trailer.
• Ensure the dri­ver is trained and ful­ly briefed on the route.

Clean­li­ness of the farm

While your farm doesn’t need to be spot­less, it should be safe and hygien­ic for visitors.

Gen­er­al clean­ing tips:

• Seg­re­gate high-risk areas like manure heaps, slur­ry pits, and col­lect­ing yards.
• Keep vis­i­tor path­ways clear and clean.
• In pub­lic-fac­ing areas (e.g. dairy par­lour tours), ensure sur­faces are washed down and free of fae­cal contamination.
• Use clean bed­ding where live­stock inter­act with visitors.
• Ensure fields used for car park­ing are free from live­stock at least 3 weeks pri­or to use as a car park.

Nature trails:

• If trails pass through live­stock fields, direct vis­i­tors to hand­wash­ing facil­i­ties upon exit.
• Avoid pic­nick­ing areas in these fields to min­i­mize con­t­a­m­i­na­tion risks.

In sum­ma­ry, you must:

Pro­vide hand­wash­ing facil­i­ties, sig­nage, and super­vi­sion at key areas.

Seg­re­gate ani­mal con­tact areas from eat­ing zones.

Keep walk­ways clean and safe for visitors.

Fol­low biose­cu­ri­ty mea­sures to pro­tect live­stock and visitors.

Ensure trail­ers used for rides meet HSE safe­ty standards.

By fol­low­ing these mea­sures, and infor­ma­tion in the Open Farm Sun­day Hand­book, your Open Farm Sun­day event should be safe and enjoy­able for all involved. 

LEAF col­lab­o­rates with the Health and Safe­ty Exec­u­tive (HSE) to pro­vide host farm­ers with up-to-date guide­lines and support. 

If you have any ques­tion please con­tact the Open Farm Sun­day team at: 02476413911, [email protected]