All vets and nurses will be required to wear a hard hat when they are with a horse
CVS Equine Veterinary Group Introduces Hard Hats For All Vets And Nurses
2 weeks ago 
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The CVS Equine veterinary group has introduced the wearing of hard hats for all of its vets and nurses within its 22 practices UK-wide.
From spring 2025, all vets and nurses will be required to wear a hard hat when they are with a horse, pony or donkey – whether in a veterinary practice, on a yard, or at a client’s premises.
It follows a three-year research project, collaborating with the University of Liverpool, which revealed that 90% of veterinary colleagues have experienced an injury during their career.
It is hoped that the move will reduce injuries to the head – one of the most common injuries to be sustained by equine vets identified by the research, usually when examining horses’ lower legs.
Dr. John Tulloch, Lecturer and European Specialist in Veterinary Public Health, at the University of Liverpool who led the research, said: “Vet visits are not an ‘everyday activity’ for a horse. As a result, many horses will be on heightened alert, and some may be more prone to unpredictable behaviour.
“Vets are often in a vulnerable situation when examining a horse. And it’s difficult to pick up on a horses’ signals, especially when examining areas such as lower limbs.
“Our research found that many injuries happen when a horse kicks or pushes a person over and the person’s head makes impact with the ground. So, wearing a hard hat will be a big step towards preventing traumatic head injuries if this were to happen.”
Sophie Ignarski, Director at CVS Equine said: “Equine rider safety has come a long way in the last 20 years, with riders now wearing hats, high vis, and often body protectors as a matter of course.
“In asking our vets and nurses to wear hard hats, we are just joining other professions – such as airline and construction – who have introduced similar changes to improve safety, now established in their culture.
“Our clinicians are at risk in their day-to-day work, even when working with the best behaved and mildest mannered horses. So we ask that clients are not concerned when our colleagues wear their hats.
“We are grateful for the support we have already received from clients in relation to this change, and hope they will continue to work in partnership with our vets and nurses to help keep our staff safe.. And if clients would like to show further support, then we’d encourage them to think about wearing their hats too.”
The University of Liverpool’s ‘The context, consequence and prevention of veterinary workplace injuries: a qualitative and quantitative study in the UK’ study has explored the context, consequences and behaviours surrounding veterinary workplace injuries - to improve the safety of the profession.
The most recent article from this study has been published in Preventative Veterinary Medicine; ‘‘It’s only a flesh wound’ – Understanding the safety culture in equine, production animal and mixed veterinary practices.’ [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167587725001266]
It found that 49% of equine vets are injured annually. These injuries were predominately kicks to the leg or head, and usually involved the examination of a horse’s distal limb, with most not wearing hard hats. Over 25% of equine vet injuries led to hospital attendance or admission. Despite this few took time off work, citing guilt of extra workload to colleagures, or minimised the severity of their injuries. Many injuries went unreported due to accepted risk and doubts about reporting impact. This study exposes a culture in large animal veterinary workplaces that normalises injuries and undervalues safety. The lack of protective measures and the tendency to continue working despite serious injuries, highlight a need for urgent cultural and systemic change. CVS are trying to drive this change, evidenced by their new hard hat policy.
A previous article, ‘Pain, inconvenience and blame: defining work-related injuries in the veterinary workplace’ based on a survey of 740 veterinary colleagues, broadly representative of the profession [Pain, inconvenience and blame: defining work-related injuries in the veterinary workplace | Occupational Medicine | Oxford Academic]. It revealed that injuries have become normalised, accepted and seen as everyday norms in veterinary practice - resulting in many not being reported. In addition, it showed Equine vets have a high threshold before acknowledging that an incident is a work-related injury; only if it reduces their ability to work or requires the need for medical treatment. As such dangerous events, for example kicks, were seen as ‘everyday’ events and are not deemed an injury, and were not being reported.
CVS Equine provides a complete range of industry-leading veterinary services at 21 sites across the UK as well as its out of hours clinical and call answering services, Equicall and Equicomms. Its ambulatory veterinary surgeons are supported by a team of over 20 recognised Veterinary Specialists in internal medicine, surgery, dentistry, sports medicine, reproduction and diagnostic imaging based within a network of referral centres. The division offers a multi-disciplinary approach, along with the latest veterinary treatments, diagnostic services, advice, standards and support – as a result of unrivalled investment in people, equipment, facilities and research. For further information about CVS Equine visit www.cvs-equine.com.
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