Agricultural health and safety in Sweden and South Korea – a comparison and the implications

Introduction and objectiveSharing knowledge, information and experiences between countries and collaborative efforts worldwide are needed to promote occupational protection of farmers. In order to exchange and cooperate for the mutual development of agricultural health and safety in Korea and Sweden, international cooperation projects were conducted during the years 2017-2019.Material and methodsThe three year collaboration and exchange program included short and long-term visits for groups and individual researchers from both countries.ResultsSweden has an advanced social security system, an experience of “Safe Farmer Common Sense” (Säkert Bondförnuft) as a successful preventive project, and a stable health and safety network, whereas Korea is in an important stage of strengthening agricultural health and safety management at the national level, establishing laws and systems in a development led by agricultural and forestry institutions. Although there are differences between Korea and Sweden, there were many similarities in the difficulties and challenges in improving agricultural health and safety.ConclusionsTo ensure the health and safety of all people working on farms including self-employed farm operators and their family members, several things were found to be needed in common in both countries: accurate statistics on the current situation of occupational injuries and diseases in agriculture, an application of practical preventive programs suitable for the agricultural sector, and fostering agricultural health and safety experts and promoting their activities. To obtain these goals, a separate or complementary safety management system considering the specificity of agriculture as well as supporting system with the legal, institutional, and organizational measures should be prepared.