The National Arable and Grassland Awards are aligning with the drive to improve health and safety measures in agriculture by introducing a new award to celebrate individuals or businesses that promote best practice.
‘Impossible to replace’ is a fitting tribute to Andrew Lawman from his father Graham, following a tragic farm accident on 3rd May 2023. Only that morning Andrew had instructed his dad not to take out his tractor and trailer loaded with straw, as Andrew wasn’t convinced it was safe and would not allow his dad to be put at unnecessary risk.
He was a strong advocate for farm safety and was always happy to share his ideas and engineering expertise to try and help others.
It is therefore bittersweet that the Andrew Lawman Safety Award is being launched at the National Arable and Grassland Awards in 2026, in memory of Andrew, to find and celebrate a deserving person or business who is promoting best practice, innovation or showing real dedication to improving the current safety record within a business, or across the farming and contracting industry.
As Graham says, “It should be renamed the ‘I Can’t Believe it Happened Award’” as this was the overwhelming sense of feeling of friends and family following Andrew’s death. It started out as a normal day in Cambridgeshire. Andrew went in for breakfast with the family then everyone dispersed for the day’s activities on the farm and in the contracting business. Andrew was taking over the contracting and straw operation, alongside Graham running the suckler herd and Andrew’s brother Matt managing the arable farming, helping each other as needed.
On 3rd May, Andrew was in a paddock close to his parent’s home working with a forklift. It was a field Andrew had traversed most days of his farming life, so he knew the hazards and was aware of the overhead power lines. However, for some unknown reason that day Andrew may have become distracted and would only have become aware of a problem when the forklift appeared to hit a bump. Undeterred Andrew jumped out the cab and went round the back of the machine, putting his hand on the forklift. Tragically, he had hit powerlines.
The impact of that fateful day cannot be underestimated. Andrew was well-loved and at just 35 years of age he had his life in front of him. It was devastating for family, friends and colleagues, which was borne out at an emotional and packed funeral in the weeks to come. The family business was put under immediate strain as an HSE investigation had to be launched.
Andrew was also the ‘techie’ in the operation but, like many of us, had not shared passwords and pin codes for laptops and phones. As a result, the family found themselves shut out of his virtual world – a world that it has still not been possible to open. Not having access to vital business paperwork, previously taken for granted, caused additional stress at an already impossibly difficult time. No-one expects such a terrible incident to happen, and Graham is keen to emphasise the importance of sharing passwords and pin numbers.
As a legacy to Andrew, with the family’s consent, this new Award aims to raise the profile of farm safety in the hope that other lives can be saved. Agriculture remains the most dangerous industry in the UK, with 1% of workforce but 20% of fatalities. In 2025, since 1 April, there have already been 9 fatal notifications from HSE in farming.
Andrew was aware of these statistics and wanted change. As a straw dealer, handling 10,000 tonnes per year, he had drafted new guidelines on bale handling and load security – which he shared with HSE – feeling current guidelines were not sufficiently stringent. He protected his family business with all the necessary safety protocols in place and used his engineering background to tweak or innovate around the farm.
Graham is keen to emphasise that Andrew’s death is proof it can happen to anyone, and all farming businesses need to take all possible safety precautions to minimise risk and avoid any other businesses and families going through such a tragedy.
Andrew was a popular and active member of the NAAC, and he is sadly missed. In memory of Andrew, the NAAC is working with the National Arable and Grassland Awards to promote this new safety award to recognise others who are actively working to improve the safety of the agricultural workforce.
The National Arable and Grassland Awards are organised by Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer and Agronomist & Arable Farmer, in association with BASIS and the National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC).
To share your story go to www.nationalarableandgrasslandawards.co.uk. Enter before 19 September.
For sponsorship opportunities, contact Christian Britten at christian.britten@markallengroup.com