A CAMPAIGN to warn farmers about the dangers of working near overhead power lines has been spread throughout social media.

Northern Powergrid’s ‘Look Up – Stay Safe’ campaign has appeared more than 69,000 times on the news feeds of Twitter users across the region.

The company, which is responsible for delivering electricity to 3.9 million homes and businesses, targeted Twitter users who had an interest in agriculture to deliver vital safety messages to help local farmers stay safe during the harvest season.

The campaign message urged farm workers to be extra vigilant around overhead power lines which can cause serious or fatal electrocution if farm machinery comes too close to them.

Geoff Earl, from Northern Powergrid, said: “It’s really important to increase awareness so farmers remember to plan ahead. Farmers need to understand the potentially fatal consequences of coming into contact with our overhead lines.”

In 2014 there were 18 incidents across the region involving tractors and other farm machinery contacting high voltage conductors on Northern Powergrid’s 29,000 kilometre network of overhead power line. Fortunately none of the incidents were fatal.