1. Introduction
The equine sector has grown strongly in recent years in many European countries [
1,
2]. For example, the number of horses has almost doubled in Finland during the past thirty years [
3]. In Sweden, in turn, the number of horses per capita is the largest in Europe [
1]. The equine sector, with diverse activities, provides an attractive lifestyle and rewarding experiences, but to be successful, good safety management skills and practices are needed. A problem is that safety risks and injuries are high in many horse-related activities. Without awareness of the possible risks and proper knowledge and skills of horsemanship, people engaged in horse-related activities will be exposed to many safety risks that may have serious consequences [
4,
5,
6]. For example, in Finland, approximately 170 injuries occur per year among horse entrepreneurs and about 300 incidents among persons in other professional sectors working with horses (such as students, farmers, relief workers, veterinarians) (
Figure 1). In other professional sectors, most of the injuries involve students and stable workers (
Figure 2) [
6,
7].
Figure 1.
Statistics from Farmers Social Insurance Institution, Finland concerning occupational injuries among equine entrepreneurs in horse-related activities during 1990–2009 [
7,
8].
Figure 1.
Statistics from Farmers Social Insurance Institution, Finland concerning occupational injuries among equine entrepreneurs in horse-related activities during 1990–2009 [
7,
8].
Leisure time injury statistics are still largely unknown [
6,
7,
8]. In Sweden, the exact number of horse-related injuries is uncertain because of underreporting. Nevertheless, in 2012, nearly 12,900 persons went to an emergency centre after being injured in riding accidents or other activities related to horse handling. Nearly nine out of ten injured persons were females and 40% were children younger than 18 years of age. Injuries were more frequent among girls aged 10 to 19 years compared to other age groups [
9,
10]. According to the statistics of the Finnish Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution, Mela [
8,
11], almost 35% of human injuries in horse activities have been serious incidents that have resulted in over 30 days of sick leave.
Figure 2.
Statutory accident insurance (TVL) statistics from Finland concerning the total numbers of injuries to horse stable workers and other persons related to occupational horse activities during 2003–2010 [
12].
Figure 2.
Statutory accident insurance (TVL) statistics from Finland concerning the total numbers of injuries to horse stable workers and other persons related to occupational horse activities during 2003–2010 [
12].
Consequently, good risk management tools and safety practices are needed in the equine business and horse activities. A project titled InnoEquine financed by the EU Central Baltic programme was carried out in Finland, Sweden, Latvia and Estonia during 2010–2013. The overall aim of the project was to enhance the competitiveness of equine entrepreneurs in the Baltic region and to promote sustainable management in the equine sector. As one of the results of the InnoEquine project, the InnoHorse safety web tool for horse stables was developed in order to identify new practical solutions for risk and safety management [
7].
2. Data and Methods
The InnoEquine project was carried out jointly by MTT Agrifood Research Finland (presently the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and the Latvian University of Agriculture (LTU). A specific aim of the project was to develop a web tool providing good practices in environmental, human safety and horse welfare activities for the equine sector. This paper focuses on the design and development of the safety web tool in the project. The purpose of this safety web tool was to provide knowledge and practical tools to prevent injury incidents and occupational diseases in the equine sector.
The design, methods and processes of the stable safety web tool, as well as the tasks and timetables are presented in
Figure 3 [
13]. Basic information related to management activities and safety needs in horse stables in Finland and Sweden were gathered through a customer survey (
N = 1325) [
14]. An expert workshop on horse stable safety was held (at MTT) in December 2012 to assist with the design of the web tool. The workshop identified major risk categories and specific risks associated with horse stable activities and functions. The participants (
n = 10) included horse sector experts, horse farm managers, farm safety, security, and risk management experts from Finland and Sweden, and Innoequine project representatives. The workshop utilized existing Farm Risk Map [
15] tools and procedures as the starting point. Participants used a wallpaper technique, writing their ideas on wall notes, based on their perspectives and experiences. The identified horse stable risks and themes were documented, photographed, grouped, and arranged under redefined risk categories.
Figure 3.
The design, methods, processes, analysis tasks and timetables for preparing the InnoHorse safety web tool [
13].
Figure 3.
The design, methods, processes, analysis tasks and timetables for preparing the InnoHorse safety web tool [
13].
Ten case studies on horse farms were analyzed for the safety section both in Finland and in Sweden. The case farms included enterprises in different size categories and different types of stables. All interviews were documented.
Information on current legislation, standards, and various horse safety and management guidebooks was gathered from the participating countries. These data were analyzed and integrated to produce the background for safety risk identification in horse stable activities. In these cases, we used broader recommendations based on standards, research, International Labour Organization (ILO) recommendations or EU directives [
7,
16]. The comprehensive collection of photos and documentation to illustrate good practices was gathered through numerous farm visits, equine fairs and equine companies in the three participating countries.
In addition, we conducted literature reviews, analyses of insurance claims involving horse injuries, Internet searches, comparison of various farm safety risk tools, discussions with equine organizations and stakeholders, and interviews and visits to horse farms. Results from these investigations have been reported elsewhere [
13,
16,
17].
All collected data were processed in an iterative development cycle and constructive analysis, which included content analysis and designing the preliminary horse stable safety checklists and risk map. The iterative development cycle process is a standardized method that uses control stages to analyze data before going further in the interactive system design process. The process includes stages like (1) understand and specify context of use; (2) specify user requirements; (3) produce design solutions to meet these requirements; (4) evaluate design against requirements [
18,
19]. This method is widely used in technical and management sciences. Constructive research method is a problem solving method for construction and testing of models to reach a certain objective in a system or context [
20]. The final content of the safety web tool was tested during 2013 prior to making it public online (
Figure 3). Feedback and data from the safety web tool were gathered by case farmer phone interviews and by the email. The final content was edited by MTT for the InnoHorse web site in English and Finnish and thereafter also translated into Swedish and Latvian [
7,
16].
4. Conclusions
The differences between countries in legislation and safety activities pose a challenge in designing safety or environmental management guidelines. For this reason, some recommendations are provided on a general level. However, some standards, research studies or directives may help stable managers in acquiring more practical information. Another challenge is human safety behaviour in the horse stable environment. Without good management, poor safety habits may spread in the organization. Thus, the application of good safety practices needs to be as easy as possible and every worker needs to be trained beginning from the first day in the stable. The stable manager’s own commitment to safe behaviour in stable work is also important.
The InnoHorse safety web tool aims to help in organizing and managing safety activities in horse stables and facilities. This tool provides a practical context model for identifying risks in horse stable activities. It contains physical and behavioral risks, which are listed in a compact horse stable safety map. This holistic approach provides a new comprehensive model for risk identification and risk management for the equine sector. The horse stable safety map and other safety check tools in the Innohorse web tool may not solve all the safety problems in horse stables, but hopefully they help some horse stable managers to improve their stable safety management. It is intended to provide tools for the equine sector to inspire, motivate and encourage people to act and behave more safely around horses in order to prevent horse-related injuries.