MORE THAN one-third of farms visited by health and safety officers during a campaign to halt deaths on farms required enforcement action relating to machinery.
The intensive round of inspections was ordered earlier in the year when farm fatalities – half of which were caused by machinery – surpassed the total for the entire of last year.
Documents from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) showed 293 inspections took place in April, focused on machinery, slurry handling, livestock safety and issues relating to the elderly and children on farms.
“Some level of action was required in relation to machinery in 72 per cent of inspections; in about 50 per cent of these it was verbal advice, but in the remainder there was a written or formal enforcement actions required,” said the report.
“Therefore in over one third (36 per cent) of farms visited, it was necessary for inspectors to take enforcement action in respect of machinery,” it went on.
Inspectors took action on slurry handling in 53 per cent of the cases, giving written advice in 16 per cent of cases, formal enforcement in 6 per cent of cases and prohibitions in three per cent.
In 206 of the farms, the issue of child safety was identified as relevant and written advice issued for 14 per cent of farms, with verbal advice for 45 per cent. No formal enforcement actions were taken in relation to this.