Horse Vets Have Highest Injury Risk of U.K. Professions

Being a horse vet in the United Kingdom (U.K.) appears to carry the highest risk of injury of any civilian occupation in the U.K., according to the results of the first-ever survey on injuries within the profession.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

veterinarian injuries
Being a horse vet in the U.K. appears to carry the highest risk of injury of any civilian occupation in the U.K., according to the results of the first-ever survey on injuries within the profession. | Photo: The Horse Staff
Being a horse vet in the United Kingdom (U.K.) appears to carry the highest risk of injury of any civilian occupation in the U.K., according to the results of the first-ever survey on injuries within the profession.

This study, commissioned by the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) and conducted by leading medical professionals at the Institute of Health and Wellbeing and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow, has prompted BEVA to raise awareness of these risks within the equine industry and look at ways to make equine veterinary practice safer.

Previously, largely anecdotal information suggested that veterinary practitioners involved in equine work frequently sustain injuries as part of their work with horses, but the prevalence and type of injury have never been quantified in the U.K. It is widely thought that some vets have to give up equine work due to a work-related injury and while very occasionally fatalities have happened, these might be inconsistently documented.

Former BEVA President Keith Chandler, BVMS, CertEP, MRCVS, outlined further: “We were coming across reports that vets were being injured, often seriously and occasionally fatally, when dealing with their patients. As a result, we commissioned this study to quantify and qualify the risks, which our members were facing whilst pursuing their professional career. It is a sad irony that some vets are being seriously injured in their efforts to protect the health of horses

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
278 votes · 278 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!