Farm Safety Week: Who would fill your boots?

This week farmers are being encouraged to reassess the farm safety risks surrounding them.

Farm Safety Week is run across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Five nations with a single purpose – to reduce death and serious injuries in agriculture. The question is; who would fill your boots if you had a farm accident? Each day this week focuses on a different theme – falls, machinery, livestock, transport and children on farms.

Statistics have proven that farming is the most dangerous occupation in the UK and Ireland. What they don’t show is the devastation a farm death causes. From 2006 to the present date, a total of 201 lives were lost in agriculture and forestry in the Republic of Ireland according to the Health and Safety Authority. Around half of those were machinery-related incidents.

So far this year there were seven fatalities on farms. Five of those who died were aged 60 years or over.

Inspections

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) found that 58% of farms inspected in 2015 had safe facilities for calving. Out of the 2,837 farm inspections carried out, 82% were deemed to have a safe play area for children, 80% addressed the involvement of elderly farmers in farming activity and 57% had safe slurry handling facilities. Similarly, tractor handbrakes were service in 57% of cases. Approximately half of the inspections included a review of the farm safety Code of Practice.