THERE COMES a time in the implementation of public safety regulations when gentle persuasion should give way to prosecution. That position has been reached where farming is concerned. Lives are at stake and the Health and Safety Authority has served notice that it may bring farmers to court if they fail to comply with official safety requirements.
Farming can be an extremely dangerous business and one-third of all workplace deaths occur in the sector. In spite of that, a lackadaisical approach has consistently been taken to safety precautions because most farmers believe “it will not happen to them”. Older farmers are particularly at fault and, as a result, they figure prominently in death and injury statistics. But children and young adults are also placed in harm’s way. Every year brings an average death toll of 18 people on farms. And thousands suffer serious injury.
Special farm safety campaigns have been run by the authority for the past decade in an effort to cut the death toll. Three years ago a Farm Safety Code of Practice was devised and sent to every holding in the State. Farmers were required by law to implement the code by ensuring safe practices at work and by conducting risk checks to prevent injury and ill-health. But nearly two-thirds of those recently contacted by Teagasc had ignored their responsibilities. It is not good enough.
Some years ago, health and safety attitudes were equally lax within the construction sector. Then inspections and prosecutions by the authority brought about significant changes. As with drink-driving, the fear of being caught and punished for breaches of the law played a major part in altering traditional patterns of behaviour. The outcome has been fewer deaths and serious injuries and lower costs for employers. Everybody has gained.
Teagasc has been holding half-day, safety-training courses in different parts of the country. A similar scheme in Denmark was credited with reducing the fatality rate on farms there by almost 50 per cent. But the Danish authorities also enforced their safety laws. In view of our very high death and injury rates and the consistent behaviour by Irish farmers in ignoring safety precautions and their own legal responsibilities, it is disappointing that the Irish Farmers’ Association should condemn the threat of prosecution by the authority. Years of persuasion and encouragement have clearly failed. If it takes inspections and prosecutions to save lives, that is an acceptable price.