Use Your Head!

A major campaign to encourage farmers and others in Scottish agriculture to wear a helmet every time they get on a quad bike has been launched by RSABI, in partnership with The Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies).

The six-month “Use Your Head. Use Your Helmet” campaign, kicks off this month with the launch of a video featuring farmer Callum Lindsay who sustained major head injuries when he had an accident on his quad in October 2023.

Callum, who is a hill farmer on the Isle of Arran, was moving sheep from an area which was flooding when the quad he was riding without a helmet hit a stone concealed by bracken on a track he used regularly.

He was catapulted from the bike, hitting the front rack with his face before landing unconscious, having sustained injuries to his neck and back as well as serious trauma to his head. When he came round 30-40 minutes later his dogs had finished the work he had sent them to do and returned to him. He realised he was in real trouble and had no mobile signal, adding to the seriousness of the situation.

Callum managed to get back on the bike to ride to an area with signal where he called his wife, Zara. He was transferred to the mainland in terrible weather via air ambulance and found the helicopter journey - when the pain really kicked in and he was unable to move - incredibly difficult, mentally as well as physically.

“My head felt like it was going to explode but my biggest worry was ‘how is the work going to get done? Who is going to do it? Will I still be able to farm?’” he recalls.

“Zara did a great job, an outstanding job, of keeping everything together for the period of time of my recovery. I was six months in neck brace and the brain bruising made me incredibly tired for a long time and, with two young children, it a very big ask for her.”

Callum is now 100 per cent committed to the importance of wearing a helmet and is encouraging others to use his story to take quad bike safety seriously and to recognise the seriousness of the impact an accident has not just on the quad rider but also on their family and farm business.

“I don’t go on a bike without a helmet now. It only takes seconds to put it on and now I feel more comfortable wearing a helmet than without it. It’s a lifeline tool and I don’t think about putting it on now, it is just part of my daily routine. It’s something everybody should be doing.”

Over the coming six months, RSABI, working with Yellow Wellies, will be issuing a steady stream of content to encourage people to always wear helmets on quads.

“Use Your Head” is being supported by organisations throughout the Scottish farming community, including NFU Scotland, the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association, the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs, Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers Scotland and NSA Scotland.

Carol McLaren, CEO of RSABI said:

“There have been too many terrible and often tragic accidents in recent times and very often the RSABI team see at first hand the impact, not only on the injured individuals, but also on their families, the farm business and the wider farming community”.

The aim is to drive home the message over the coming months, ahead of the busy lambing and spring work period when, too often, tiredness and difficult weather can result in judgement errors which lead to accidents.

“Our hope is that the sustained campaign, running until July, will help to encourage a habit of reaching for helmets before every trip and that this will prompt farmers to think safety and take a few extra moments to consider the terrain, weather and other risk factors before they set off.

“By working with helmet safety ambassadors and influencers in the farming community we hope to start the ball rolling on a change similar to what has happened on the ski slopes over the past decade, where people have switched to wearing helmets as the norm.”

Stephanie Berkeley, Manager of the Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) added:

“We are proud to partner with RSABI on this very valuable initiative. Over the past 60 years, the main causes of farmers and farm workers having fatal or serious injuries on Scottish farms and crofts has not changed. However, one new danger we have seen emerge is the use of quad bikes and All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV).

“ATVs are becoming part and parcel of every day farming but, like any piece of machinery, it’s not the quad bike that is dangerous, it’s the way it’s handled! 

“So maybe stop and ask yourself; do you always wear a helmet? If not, why not? Many ATV deaths have been caused by head injuries and helmets would almost certainly have prevented most of these deaths.

“These vehicles are not fitted with cabs or roll bars, so your only protection is what you wear. Don’t take our word for it… ask Callum!”

Callum Lindsay pictured with his quad and helmet on the farm in Arran (pic credit RSABI)