Enforcement action was taken by the Health and Safety Authority against 16 per cent of Irish farms inspected during Farm Safety Week earlier this year, it has emerged.
This follows inspections by the authority of farms in Cork, Tipperary, Meath and Longford when it emerged that 60 per cent of farms were not compliant with regulations.
The enforcement action was taken mainly in the area of dangerous machinery where farmers did not have protective covers on power drives, a statement said yesterday.
200 people have died in the past 10 years in Irish farms,including 43 children. This year there have been six deaths.
Two of the fatal accidents involved animals; two people were killed in falls; and the remaining two deaths were caused by machinery.
The authority embarked on a €250,000 publicity campaign earlier in the year to reduce the number of deaths and accidents on farms which, with building sites, rate as the most high-risk workplaces in the Irish economy.
The authority has found a slight increase in the number of farmers filling in the mandatory farm-safety statements.
Last year, 90 per cent of farmers ignored this task but a survey conducted this year found that 20 per cent of farmers had filled in their forms.