The Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) in partnership with SSAB, the Nordic and US-based steel company and Farmers Guardian has announced the launch of a new and significant health and safety award.

The annual award, which will be judged by a panel of eminent agricultural engineering specialists will be open to any company, institution, organisation or individual. The prize will comprise of a statuette, £300 and an invitation to visit SSAB in Sweden.

The prize will be awarded for an innovation, product or practice which supports best practice in promoting safety and can demonstrate the clear benefits. This could relate for example to new design features, lighter products, simplified production, longer life time, improved performance or beneficial environmental effects. The prize will also cover methods and tools.

Alastair Taylor, CEO of IAgrE said, “Agriculture is the most dangerous industry in the UK with an average of one person being killed each week on farms and many serious injuries and cases of ill health occurring across the landbased sector and the incident rates show no sign of reducing. At IAgrE we are committed to help the industry improve this figure and believe this new award is a way of raising and promoting a healthy and safe agricultural industry.”

Johan Mattsson, SSAB Key Segment Specialist, Agriculture said, “The farm is one of the most dangerous workplaces of modern society. Fortunately, Advanced High Strength Steel has enormous potential to really make a difference for environment, animals and people living and working on farms.

SSAB manufacture AHSS – Advanced High Strength Steel, which increases productivity and reduces fuel consumption. “The automotive sector has been transformed in the last 20 to 30 years and everyone today takes for granted that cars are safe and fuel efficient. It’s now time to look at the agricultural sector and using steel to develop farm machinery, produce machines more cost effectively with higher safety levels and reduced fuel consumption using new lighter and stronger materials,” added Johan.