Farmers have been urged to look at their work practices and identify one change they can make to improve farm safety. The advice, from Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Martin Heydon comes at the start of Farm Safety Week, which gets under way on Monday.
Five people have lost their lives on farms in the Republic so far this year. Nine lives were lost over the whole of last year on farms, a record low, down from 25 in 2017, but farm leaders said the figure was still too high.
“My main message to farmers is they are their farm’s only irreplaceable asset. Without them there is no farm,” Mr Heydon said. “I am calling on every farmer to look at their farm and identify one change they can make to make it safer. It might be changing a damaged manhole cover, fixing a light on the tractor, buying a helmet for the quad — big or small, identify one thing and fix it. Right now, farms are the most dangerous workplace in Ireland and that has to change.”
IFA president Tim Cullinan also encouraged farmers to take time this week to review work practices to ensure a safe place of work. He said the rate of farm accidents and fatalities was still too high “and we need to make change and think safety first. It is essential that we reduce the risks in our workplace. Every safety procedure put in place will reduce the risk of accident or worse. We need to adapt a stronger culture of farm safety, and we are asking farmers to do this now.”
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This year marks the 10th annual Farm Safety Week, a collaborative campaign initiated by the Farm Safety Partnership in the UK and led by the IFA in Ireland. It has a particular focus on vehicles and machinery, which account for half of farm deaths, with the elderly and children at increased risk.
IFA farm family and social affairs chairwoman Alice Doyle said the aim of this year’s Farm Safety Week was to urge farmers to make a change now, to protect their families from life-changing and life-ending incidents by taking steps to create safer working environments.
For more on Farm Safety Week 2022, visit ifa.ie/farm-safety-hub/
