Fire prevention in agriculture
Fires occur time and again on farms, sometimes with serious consequences for people, animals and buildings. The Swiss Council for Fire Prevention (BFB) and the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention in Agriculture (BUL) have entered into a partnership to raise awareness of fire hazards among farm managers, family members and employees and to provide them with easy-to-apply prevention measures.
In Switzerland, around 500 fires occur in farm buildings every year. According to the IRV damage statistics, these fires are primarily caused by lightning strikes (50.7%), electricity (15.6%) and combustion systems (10.3%).
Raising awareness among farmers in the long term
As with all types of buildings, many fires on farms are caused by human carelessness. For this reason, the BFB is entering into a long-term cooperation with the BUL. "With this collaboration, we want to raise awareness of the various fire hazards among farm managers, family members and employees of agricultural businesses and provide them with easy-to-apply recommendations for preventing fires," emphasizes Daniel Röösli, Head of BFB.
Broadly based safety information
"With our cooperation, we want to further increase safety on farms," adds Heinz Feldmann, safety expert and project manager at BUL. To achieve this goal, the BUL and the BFB are working together to produce leaflets, technical articles and flyers. This information will be made available to farms free of charge over the next two years. It will also be published in teaching materials for agricultural training courses and at trade fairs, events and various online portals.
Further information on fire prevention in agriculture can be found at:
www.bfb-cipi.ch/landwirtschaft or www.bul.ch/brandverhuetung
