Wet weather requires more farm safety measures

SAFETY campaigners have urged farmers to take added care on the farm as the ongoing wet conditions add pressures to farmers.

An April farm safety awareness campaign focusing on farm vehicles has been launched by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Health and Safety Authority.

Over the last 10 years there have been 191 farm fatalities of which over half, or 96 people, lost their lives in incidents involving farm vehicles and machinery.

According to the Teagasc National Farm Survey in 2020, approximately 11% of the 4,500 non-fatal incidents on Irish farms each year, involve farm vehicles and machinery, with some resulting in life-changing injuries.

‘Right now farmers are battling difficult weather conditions but these sobering figures highlight the serious safety risks associated with farm vehicles and machinery.

‘Behind each one is a farm, a family, and a community that have been left devastated,’ Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for Farm Safety, Martin Heydon said.

‘In the weeks ahead tractor activity will increase and we need to drive down the unacceptably high number of fatalities involving farm vehicles and machinery. It is incumbent on everyone involved in farming to act now by taking the practical steps necessary to prevent any loss of life or injury when using farm machinery.’

The joint DAFM/HSA media campaign in 2024 includes instalments on safety around cows at calving, farm machinery, working at height and farmer health and wellbeing. Health and Safety Authority chief Conor O’Brien said inspectors will be undertaking nationwide farm inspections over the coming weeks to support the campaign.

Agri-food educational body Agri Aware is also taking part of its new farm safety initiative.

Safe Farm Futures, supported by the Dept of Agriculture, will see Agri Aware’s farm safety sfficer visit primary schools across the country and educate the next generation on all things farm safety.

In-person workshops will be held in primary schools across the country over an eight-week period for schools that signed up their students to the programme which is nearly at 25,000.

Agri Aware’s new Farm Safety Officer Ashley Traynor will be delivering the workshops nationwide. The aim of the workshops is to educate students on various aspects of farm safety through engaging and interactive activities by creating awareness of potential dangers and promoting responsible behaviour when on and working on farms.

‘Year in, year out we sadly hear of fatalities on farms and what’s also a concern is the near misses we don’t hear about on farms,’ said Agri Aware chairman Shay Galvin.

‘Educating the next generation on the importance of being safe on farms is hugely important especially at a young age to ensure good habits, rather than bad habits are acted upon.

Ensuring children understand and can see dangers on a farm from a young age, and educating them on how to be safe be it around livestock or machinery is what Safe Farm Futures is all about.’