Paralympic athlete Sammi Kinghorn, MBE, urges everyone to be safer whilst working on farms

Thirteen years ago when Sammi was lying in hospital after suffering a life-changing accident on the family farm she could never ever have imagined where she would be today…
In 2010, Sammi was involved in a life-changing accident on her family farm causing an injury that left her paralysed from the waist down. With her incredible spirit and determination, Sammi is now the fastest-ever female British wheelchair racer representing Team GB, winning multiple gold medals and competing in two Paralympic Games.
This year, Sammi has partnered with the Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies), to support Farm Safety Week – and believes that, despite improvements in attitudes and behaviours in the farming industry, many of these deaths and injuries could be prevented.

“One of the biggest things I’ve shown my family and is that life can literally change in a split second and people need to stop thinking ‘it’ll be fine’ because the one day it’s not fine is the one day you wish you’d done something about it”

With agricultural mortality rates remaining stubbornly high compared with other sectors in which fatal accident rates have generally decreased, the farming industry can’t keep ploughing on – something needs to change. Farming has the poorest safety record of any occupation in the UK and Ireland, with 42 people losing their lives on UK and Ireland farms over the past year.