Farm safety is one of the main themes at the three-day Farm Machinery Show 2007, which has opened at the Punchestown Event Centre, Co Kildare.
Officially opening the event yesterday, Minister of State for Agriculture Brendan Smith said he wanted to remind people of the risks associated with the use of farm machinery.
"It is worth noting that of the 50 reported workplace fatalities last year, 18 were on farms," he said. "It is estimated that 3,000 people are injured in the agriculture sector annually.
"Accidents are occurring despite the fact that manufacturers have greatly improved the safety features and devices on machinery over the past number of years."
The Minister said the main reason for accidents was human error rather than mechanical failings and a major campaign had been launched by Government with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) to increase awareness of the dangers at farm level.
He said a safety training programme for farmers would be put in place shortly. As part of this campaign, a copy of the new agriculture HSA code of practice had been sent to every farmer.
"Farmers should be aware that they are legally obliged to ensure that their farms are safe places for themselves and others to carry out their work and to this end, all farmers must have completed either a safety statement or a risk assessment document," Mr Smith continued.
"Many accidents result from allowing younger farm family members to operate, or come in contact with, farm machinery. Given the scale and speed of modern farm machinery operations, we must all now work on the basis that children should never be in the vicinity of working machinery."
Organised by the Farm Tractor and Machinery Traders Association, the show is expected to attract more than 15,000 farmers and agricultural contractors over the three days.
An estimated €20 million worth of tractors, trailers, loaders, balers, combines, choppers, planters and ploughs will be on display. There are 150 trade stands covering nearly 5,000sq metres (53,820sq ft) of covered and heated display area and 6,000 metres of open tarmac on which the machinery is being displayed.