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Introduction

This information sheet provides advice for farmers and
others responsible for open farms, or farms which run
open days, on practical steps to reduce the risk of ill
health to visitors.

Ill health following visits to open farms is unusual.
Such visits play a valuable part in the education and
development of children, and are an enjoyable
experience for many people.

Teachers and others who organise visits to farms should
also read the separate supplementary sheet which forms
part of this advice, to help them make sure that children
do not become ill as a result of visits.

Background

All animals naturally carry a range of micro-organisms,
some of which can be transmitted to humans, where
they may cause ill health. Some organisms which may
be contracted on farms, such as the verocytotoxin-producing
bacterium Escherichia coli O157 (E coli
O157), present a serious hazard and potentially cause
severe disease. E coli O157 in particular can cause
severe illness in young children. Good general
cleanliness around the farm, separating eating and
contact areas, adequate hand-washing facilities,
information for staff and visitors, and proper supervision
of animal contact and hand washing are all essential.
At least 45% of all cattle herds may carry the bacterium,
and there have been cases of human ill health following
contact with animals carrying it. Very low numbers of
E coli O157 can cause infection and so it is important
that farmers control the risks to visitors. Controlling the
risks from E coli O157 will control the risks from most
other organisms carried by animals which are
transmissible to humans by hand to mouth.

The law

If you open your farm to the public, including for charity
events, you have duties under health and safety law.

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health
(COSHH) Regulations 1999 require an employer or self-employed
person to:

• assess the risks to employees, self-employed
  people and the public from exposure to hazardous
  substances, including micro-organisms; and

• take appropriate action to prevent or adequately
  control that exposure.
  

The remainder of this sheet gives advice on complying
with these Regulations.

Assessing the risk

Your COSHH assessment is the essential first step in
deciding what controls you need. Remember that:

• current veterinary and medical opinion is that
  farmers should assume that all ruminants (cattle,
  sheep, goats and deer) carry E coli O157;

• E coli O157 is found in a range of other animals
  including geese and seagulls;

• there are no tests in the live animal to prove that it
  is free of E coli O157 infection. A negative test
  does not mean the animal is free of infection.
  Animals which have previously tested negative
  may therefore begin to excrete the organism at a
  later date;

• E coli O157 may be introduced to your farm at any
  time by new stock, wild birds and animals, or by
  visitors such as delivery drivers who have visited
  other farms;

• young stock, or stock under stress because of
  pregnancy, unfamiliarity with people etc are more
  likely to excrete E coli O157;

• E coli O157 can persist for long periods outside the
  animal - up to 150 days in soil and 90 days in cattle
  faeces. Other animals on the farm, including pets,
  can therefore easily acquire the bacterium;

• visitors are most likely to be infected with E coli
  O157 from contact with animals or their faeces.
  

Controlling the risk

Given the advice above, assume that your animals carry
E coli O157, and put controls in place to minimise the
risk of visitors being contaminated by it, eg when:

• contacting animals in petting areas or during bottle
  feeding;

• touching gates or animal pen divisions
  contaminated with faeces;

• walking through areas contaminated with faeces
  and later removing footwear.
  

Contact with infected animals or their faeces in any of
these ways can result in visitors accidentally ingesting
the bacterium and suffering ill health if, without
thoroughly washing their hands, they:

• put contaminated fingers in their mouths (including
  thumb sucking and nail biting). Remember that
  children are very likely to do this;

• smoke;

• touch their food.
  

Your controls should therefore concentrate on the
following:

• farm layout and routes, including areas to which
  visitors should not have access;

• animal contact;

• siting of eating areas;

• washing facilities;

• information and signs;

• training and supervision;

• livestock management procedures;

• manure and compost heaps.
  

Farm layout and routes

• Decide which areas you want visitors to access.

• Make sure that routes around the farm divert
  visitors from non-access areas, eg parts of the
  farm where work is going on.

• Consider how you will prevent entry to non-access
  areas. Fencing is one solution.

• Route visitors to washing facilities as they leave
  any animal contact area, just before they access
  eating areas and before leaving the farm.

• Consider whether you can avoid routing visitors
  across farm tracks used regularly by stock. If this is
  not possible then make sure that visitors do not
  have to tread through any build-up of faeces. For
  example, scrape and wash down tracks after each
  milking, or provide duckboards or similar so that
  visitors avoid contaminating their footwear.

• Keep the farm as clean as practicable and ensure
  areas to which visitors have access are free from
  any build-up of faeces.
  

Animal contact

• Decide where visitors should be able to pet and
  feed animals, and which animals will be involved.

• Exclude visitors from non-contact areas, or install
  double fencing to prevent contact. Adequate
  fencing might include your existing fencing, plus
  hurdles or sheep or pig netting (to a height of
  around 1 m, properly erected and maintained).

• Make sure that contact areas are free from any
  build-up of faeces.

• Clean and disinfect pen divisions and gates in
  animal contact areas whenever animals are moved
  in or out of them.
  

Eating areas

• Discourage visitors from eating (including sweets)
  or drinking in animal contact areas.

• Make sure that visitors have to pass through or by
  washing facilities before going to eating areas.

• Site eating or picnic facilities away from areas
  where animals are likely to be contacted, and
  preferably at the end of the farm trail, or outside the
  main areas of the open farm.

• Exclude domesticated fowl, farm dogs etc from
  eating areas. They are likely to be contaminated
  with faeces and may contaminate eating areas.
  Consider wing clipping, double gates into eating
  areas and adequate fencing.

• Clear discarded food from eating areas to
  discourage wild birds from feeding and
  contaminating the area.

• Position ice-cream, sweet kiosks etc in the ‘clean’
  areas of the farm, such as the eating areas or at
  the exit where visitors have passed washing
  facilities, and remind visitors using the kiosks, by
  notices or verbally, to wash before touching or
  eating purchased food or sweets.
  

Washing facilities

All open farms, but especially those where visitors are
encouraged to contact animals, will need washing
facilities. The numbers of facilities and their location is
crucial to preventing ill health. Facilities can be individual
basins, or troughs or pipes with a number of running
water outlets. They need to be provided and easily
accessible at:

• areas for intentional contact (petting barns etc). If
  there is a one-way system for visitors through the

contact area they should be provided immediately
adjacent to the exit; if there is a two-way flow of
visitors they should be provided immediately
adjacent to entrances and exits. A one-way system
may help to ensure that washing facilities are
properly used;

• eating areas;

• the exit to the premises, where visitors may
  contaminate their hands removing footwear. If this
  is not possible (eg at sites with multiple exits) then
  provide signs advising visitors to wash their hands
  before they leave the premises;

• other areas where you expect contact to take
  place, eg those where young stock are housed. If
  you double-fence animals kept outside the contact
  area, so that contact is not likely, you may not need
  to provide washing facilities in those areas.
  

An acceptable way of estimating the capacity of the
washing facilities is to:

• estimate the maximum number of visitors expected
  or permitted at one time;

• consider how many visitors will be in animal
  contact areas at any time - you may already limit
  numbers of visitors in these areas to allow them
  time to enjoy the experience with the animals;
  assess the rate at which visitors will leave contact
  areas, eg in large groups such as school parties or
  a few at a time;

• estimate the time taken to wash hands effectively,
  remembering that a thorough hand wash may take
  up to two minutes.

If you estimate that, for instance, 30 people will leave a
contact area every 15 minutes, and each person will
take two minutes to wash their hands, you should
provide enough washing facilities for four people to use
at one time (30 x 2 divided by 15 = 4). Make similar
calculations for other locations around the farm, eg at
main exits or entrances to eating areas.

You can supplement permanent facilities with temporary
ones at busy times, eg just before the summer holidays,
but facilities should:

• be accessible by all visitors, ie at the right heights
  for both children and adults or with raised standing
  areas provided for children. Check these do not
  present tripping or falling hazards;

• have running water, preferably warm. It is easier to
  create soap lather with warm water, and it may
  encourage visitors, especially children, to wash
  more thoroughly. Warm water supplies should be
  fitted with a means of restricting the temperature to
  around 43°C to avoid scalding;

• have liquid soap. Bactericidal soaps are not
  necessary;

• have paper or roller towels. Hot-air hand-dryers are
  suitable but may lead to queues which discourage
  visitors from washing their hands. Reusable hand
  towels are not suitable;

• be properly maintained and cleaned at least daily -contact
  with contaminated hand-operated taps can
  transfer bacteria from tap to person. Replenish
  paper towels as necessary.

Do not provide buckets or troughs of water which are
reused by several people - they do not allow effective
hand washing, and reusing water can spread bacteria
among those using it. Adding a disinfectant to the water
does not make the practice acceptable. Using cleansing
wipes is not a substitute for proper hand washing and
will not be effective if hands are heavily soiled.

Consider how you can encourage your staff and parents,
teachers etc to make sure that children and other visitors
wash their hands properly.

Information and signs

• Information should include at least notices at all
  entrances to the premises to remind visitors of the
  need for good hygiene, and request that they only
  eat or drink in the designated areas.

• Signs should be erected in appropriate places
  reminding visitors to wash their hands when
  leaving animal contact areas, before eating, and
  when leaving the farm.

• Washing facilities should have signs giving full
  instructions on proper hand washing.

• Consider whether leaflets, or pre-visit packs for
  schools, may be useful to advise visitors of good
  hygiene precautions (and other site rules).

• Remember that young children may have dummies
  or toys that they put in their mouths, and consider
  whether you need to remind accompanying adults
  not to put dummies that have fallen to the ground
  back into their children’s mouths.
  

Training and supervision

• Staff should be trained and instructed on what
  visitors should or should not do.

• Provide guidance to staff on how to explain the
  hygiene message to visitors.

• Make sure staff know what to do if visitors won’t
  co-operate, and how to handle aggressive visitors.
  

• Provide supervision in contact areas. The number
  of supervisors will depend on the size of the
  contact area and the number of visitors permitted
  or expected in that area at one time.
  

• Make sure that children are supervised while they
  wash their hands. Although this is the responsibility
  of parents or teachers, in some cases farm staff
  may need to help in supervising.
  

• Remind supervisors in animal contact areas (who
  may also be there to protect the animals) to ensure
  that visitors do not eat in those areas.
  

• Supervisors should discourage visitors (especially
  children) from putting their fingers in their mouths,
  or kissing the animals.
  

Livestock management procedures

• Arrange regular visits from a vet to check on the
  health of stock, especially for zoonoses such as
  salmonellosis, cryptosporidiosis, orf or ringworm.
  

• Assess whether animals are healthy before moving
  them to contact areas, but remember that animals
  carrying E coli O157 do not suffer ill-health effects.
  

• Do not put animals that have just given birth, or
  been born, in contact areas.
  

• Remove animals showing signs of ill health, such
  as diarrhoea, or stress from contact areas.
  

• Keep animals clean, and in clean conditions.
  

• Consider whether replacement stock should come
  from within the farm rather than being bought in. If
  stock are purchased, isolate them from other
  animals on the farm for one month.
  

Manure and compost heaps

• Position manure or compost heaps away from
  areas that visitors access, or fence them off.
  

• Make sure visitors do not climb on the manure or
  compost, or walk through the liquid run-off.
  

• Do not allow visitors to bag their own compost -bag
  it up ready for them.
  

• Clean tools regularly.
  

‘No contact’ farms

If visitors to your farm are not expected or invited to
have contact with any of the animals (eg many farms
which open for single days, perhaps at lambing)
consider whether you need to:

• arrange the ‘open’ part of the farm so that visitors
  cannot pass through or close to any areas in which
  animals are kept; or
  

• arrange routes through areas where animals are
  kept so that contact with them is not possible, eg
  by putting fencing between the normal barriers
  around the animal pens, barns etc and the visitor
  access route; and
  

• double-fence areas to which the public have
  access for picnics etc, so that animals in adjacent
  fields or pens cannot be touched from those areas.
  

Remember that children will want to contact the animals
and so fencing should be of a standard they will find
difficult to overcome (see ‘Animal contact’).

Sources of advice for farmers

The National Association of Farms for Schools (Tel:
01978 842277), the Federation of City Farms and
Community Gardens (Tel: 0117 923 1800) and the
National Farm Attractions Network (Tel: 01536 513397)
all provide advice and other services to open farms.
Consider using the assurance or inspection schemes
run by some of these organisations.

Other advice is available from MAFF/SERAD (see
telephone books for contacts), veterinary surgeons, or
the enforcing authority for health and safety legislation
for your premises. Where the open farm is part of a
commercial farm this will normally be HSE; in other
cases it will be the local authority for your area.

Further information

HSE priced and free publications are available by mail
order from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk
CO10 2WA. Tel: 01787 881165 Fax: 01787 313995.
Website: www.hsebooks.co.uk

HSE priced publications are also available from good
booksellers.

For other enquiries ring HSE’s InfoLine Tel: 08701
545500, or write to HSE’s Information Centre, Broad
Lane, Sheffield S3 7HQ. Website: www.hse.gov.uk

This publication may be freely reproduced, except for
advertising, endorsement or commercial purposes. The
information is current at 6/00. Please acknowledge the
source as HSE.

6/00 AIS23(rev1) C200 Printed and published by the Health and Safety Executive
This leaflet contains notes on good practice which are
not compulsory but which you may find helpful in
considering what you need to do.