FarmersAid App Gives Farm First Responders a Checklist

The FarmersAid app launched on June 4 as a free UK farm emergency tool from the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI), and the official FarmersAid download page says it gives farmers, workers and family members step-by-step guidance for serious on-farm accidents while 999 crews are still on the way. In a sector where the nearest helper is often another person on the farm, the phone tool is built for the first minutes after injury.

The launch at the Royal Cornwall Show lands against official safety figures that keep farming at the top of Britain’s workplace-risk table. The app’s narrow promise is practical: call 999 first, then follow large-button prompts for trauma scenarios that can overwhelm an untrained responder.

A Tool Built for the Farmyard Responder

RABI, the farming charity for England and Wales, is taking the app public at the Royal Cornwall Show schedule in Wadebridge, which runs from June 4 to 6. The setting fits the rollout. Agricultural shows gather the same mixed crowd the app is trying to reach: farm owners, contractors, families, seasonal workers, vets, machinery dealers and people who may be on site when an accident happens.

The app is available on both major phone platforms. The Apple App Store listing classifies it as a Medical app, says it is free, and lists iPhone and iPad support with iOS 15.4 or later. The Google Play listing also identifies RABI as the developer and describes it as first-aid guidance for serious on-farm accidents.

The audience is wider than the person driving the tractor. The app is written for whoever is first to the casualty: a spouse who heard shouting from a yard, a worker who saw a machine stop abruptly, a neighbour who arrived before the ambulance, or a family member who knows the field but has no clinical training.

The Injury Numbers Behind the Launch

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain’s workplace health and safety regulator, counted 124 worker deaths in Great Britain in 2024/25. Agriculture, forestry and fishing accounted for 23 of them, and the five-year average for the sector was 25 fatal injuries a year, according to HSE agriculture workplace injury statistics.

The same HSE report says the sector accounts for 1% of the workforce in Great Britain. On a five-year average, its fatal injury rate was about 22 times the all-industry rate. The Labour Force Survey (LFS, a UK worker survey used for injury estimates) put non-fatal workplace injuries in agriculture, forestry and fishing at an estimated 8,000 a year over 2020/21 to 2024/25.

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR, the UK system for specified workplace incident reports) captured 726 non-fatal employee injuries in the sector in 2024/25. HSE says RIDDOR data needs care because non-fatal injuries are substantially under-reported, especially among the self-employed.

Ten Farm Scenarios Shape the Interface

The app starts from severe incidents found in farm work, not from the minor cuts and sprains that fill a general household first-aid book. RABI’s public app page lists ten serious on-farm accident scenarios:

• Trapped by vehicle
• Electric shock
• Injured by animal
• Crushed
• Hit by vehicle
• Drowning
• Fall from height
• Burned
• Hit from above
• Trapped by machinery

The store listings describe structured instructions for high-stress situations and say the app includes demo mode and offline content. That offline detail matters on farms where signal can drop behind a hill, inside a shed, or in the far corner of a field. The demo gives users a practice run before an accident puts them under pressure.

The interface choices are part of the product. RABI says the app uses clear, step-by-step prompts, large buttons and simple decision paths. The supplied launch materials also say it can call 999 directly, share precise location details, identify potential air ambulance landing sites and help locate nearby defibrillators.

Where the Phone Fits With 999

In a serious emergency, 999 first is still the order of action. The app sits in the minutes after that call begins or while another person is making it. For farms without a clear street address at the casualty’s exact location, the what3words location system divides the world into 3 metre squares and gives each square a three-word address.

A caller can keep the phone on speaker, relay a three-word address, and follow the emergency prompts while another person opens gates or moves animals away. The app is built around that kind of divided work, where the first response is rarely a single neat task.

The Medical Brief Comes From Rural Care

RABI developed the app with Professor Stuart Maitland-Knibb, a consultant in helicopter emergency medicine and pre-hospital emergency care, and Professor Cathy Jackson, a rural healthcare specialist and former executive dean and head of the University of Central Lancashire Medical School. Maitland-Knibb’s background includes Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS, aircraft-based critical care teams that reach serious incidents before or alongside ambulance crews).

Nobody expects to become the first person responding to a serious on-farm accident, but in rural environments that is often the reality.

Professor Stuart Maitland-Knibb said that in RABI’s launch materials. The line captures the app’s intended user better than any product description: someone who did not plan to be a responder and suddenly is.

The app’s medical idea is built around the Platinum Ten, the early minutes after serious trauma when fast, basic decisions can change what happens before professional care arrives. RABI’s materials focus on practical guidance for non-clinical users, with instructions written for yards, fields, buildings and tracks rather than a controlled treatment room.

The Rollout Has to Reach the Quiet Farms

RABI says the phone tool is part of a wider programme that includes training resources and Critical Care Kits for farming environments. That matters because a download does only one part of the job. The rest is habit: knowing the app is on the phone, opening it before an emergency, knowing where the nearest gate is, and making sure the people most likely to find a casualty are not learning the screen for the first time under shock.

Farm businesses can do a few simple things before the next busy period:

• Put the app on phones used by owners, workers, contractors and family members who spend time around machinery or livestock.
• Open the demo before harvest, lambing, calving or show preparation, when temporary help may be on site.
• Agree which entrance, field gate or track a 999 caller should use for the hardest-to-reach parts of the holding.
• Check where the nearest defibrillator is and whether it can be reached at night or outside business hours.
• Keep shared phones charged in vehicles, workshops and farm offices.

The privacy panels are worth checking during that rollout. Apple’s listing says the app may collect contact information and identifiers linked to the user, while location, usage data and diagnostics may be collected without being linked. Google Play says no data is shared with third parties, data is encrypted in transit, and the app may collect personal info, app activity and other data types.

The app is live now; the useful download happens before anyone needs it.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It does not provide medical advice and should not be used to delay calling 999 or seeking professional emergency care. Consult qualified health, safety or emergency-care professionals for training and farm-specific planning. Figures and app-store details are accurate as of June 4, 2026.