23 May 2025
CVS Equine introduces measure across its 21 UK sites after three-year project with University of Liverpool that found quarter of equine vets have had injuries leading to hospital attendance.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Dawn Claxton, RVN at Alnorthumbria Equine, in a hard hat.
A vet group has introduced mandatory personal protective equipment (PPE), including hard hats, for all equine veterinary teams following a three-year research project.
CVS Equine collaborated with the University of Liverpool on a project that showed 90% of clinicians had experienced an injury during their career and 25% of equine vet injuries had led to a hospital attendance.
Vets, nurses and technicians will be required to wear a hard hat if working with a horse, pony or donkey – whether in practice, on a yard or at a client’s premises.
Injuries to the head are one of the most common traumas suffered by equine vets as identified in the research, usually sustained when vets are examining distal limbs.
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 distal limbs.”
Dr Tulloch added: “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.”
CVS supported the research with £74,440 as part of its Clinical Research Awards, with a survey conducted among 740 veterinary colleagues broadly representative of the profession. The project’s latest paper in the study is available here.
Sophie Ignarski, equine director at CVS, said: “All of our clinicians are at risk in their day-to-day work – whether they are newly qualified or very experienced. Other colleagues including nurses, vet techs and patient care assistants, are similarly vulnerable.
“We decided to make wearing of hard hats mandatory in order to protect all of our colleagues and minimise the potential risk of head injury, understanding it can never be fully eliminated. We recognise this policy shift represents a degree of change, but hope that it serves to further support and progress the equine veterinary industry more widely.
“Our policy is evidence-based, utilising three years of rigorous research, and we will continue our efforts in the future to grow our knowledge and understanding of this important area. By doing so, we join other industries – such as construction – who have already adopted similar changes to the extent they are now established in their culture.”
