We have all been close to a farm accident crisis and that feeling where you can see the disaster looming, in a form of slow motion but don’t seem to be able to do something about it, remains in your mind for a long time.

We have all promised ourselves that it will never happen again. Once we feel the blood returning to our veins and we have gotten over the shock, we make those promises. But all too often in the heat of the next farm workload, we lapse.

I’ve had near miss experiences with tractors, loaders, hedgecutters and slurry agitators. I hope that I’ve learnt some lessons. I hope that I’m more careful today and wise enough to pass on some advice.

I’ve met too many others who were less fortunate. Like all of us I’ve friends without limbs due to machinery related farm accidents.

We all know too many of the ones that didn’t get away. We are more aware of the fatalities because each one brings a deeply tragic and natural feeling of loss and emptiness.

We also know that we are living in a farming society where many hundreds of the Irish farming wounded get up and get out each day to face their farm tasks. They carry on. They are relieved that they have survived a traumatic farm accident experience, but their scars are evident and often obvious.

For many in farming and who use farm machinery we all know that we have been too close for comfort on too many occasions. We need to pause, to plan and to prepare for each day that we work in farming.

That process needs to be thoughtful. You need to think about yourself and the others around you. Farming can be safe. It takes thought and it takes a little more time to make it safer, the time for your life.