I was in with my mother for the morning tea and her kitchen radio was on. Sean O’Rourke was talking to someone from the HSA about farm safety following the tragic farm death in Kilkenny. Johnny Ryan is the first farm death of 2015 and unfortunately there will be more over the coming months. In 2014, 30 people lost their lives in farm accidents, five of whom were children.

But shocking as these figures are, they do not tell the complete story. We don’t know how many more people were seriously injured in farm accidents. Many farming accidents go unreported. We don’t know how many more other farmers’ wellbeing was seriously affected by stress or depression, perhaps brought on by low product prices or cross-compliance inspections or whatever.

The radio discussion was focused on the reduction in farm safety inspections. I think we can say that this is not a good thing and as a result there may be more accidents. But even if every farm in the country was inspected every year, there would still be accidents and fatalities. No amount of legislation will prevent genuine accidents from happening and we have to recognise that farming is potentially a very dangerous occupation.

However, on some farms there are still accidents waiting to happen. It’s not good enough if PTO shaft covers are missing or if there is unsafe electrical wiring or poor cattle handling facilities; the list of the obvious goes on and on. We have to change our mindset in this regard. We must see these situations for the threat that they are, and take action to remedy them. There’s no excuse for the accidents that are waiting to happen. All these excuses will be horribly meaningless as your nearest and dearest close the lid of a coffin.

But farming is uniquely exposed to health hazards in a way that most other industries are not. Most farming operations are at the mercy of the weather and this can place us under severe pressure to get tasks done while conditions are favourable. And when we are under pressure we all take risks which we wouldn’t normally take. When a machine blocks for the 10th time in catchy weather, we throw caution to the wind which is, of course, crazy with hindsight. I am guilty in this regard, but now I try to help myself.

Some of us don’t cope very well with this level of weather-induced stress. But our health and wellbeing has to take priority. It’s an acquired skill and one to work on. It’s no good being incapacitated physically or mentally because we have placed ourselves under too much stress. Life’s too short to get wound up over a rare good afternoon for spreading slurry or baling straw.

Also unique to the farming industry is the fact that most of us are working on our own. Should something go wrong, there is often nobody there to help. And perhaps there’s also nobody there to help take the strain or maybe point out the inherent dangers. It can often take an outsider to see something which is less than obvious to you.

Finally, we have to become more personally responsible for our own wellbeing. Common sense has to prevail and we have to be risk-aware and recognise our limitations. After all, legislation doesn’t prevent a barefoot visually-impaired retirement group from climbing the Skelligs or a busload of hyper kids playing blind man’s bluff alongside a canal lock; but common sense does.