A farm safety authority should be set up and farm safety groups in Ireland should be consolidated, according to Fianna Fáil senator Paul Daly.

Daly was speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal after Embrace FARM’s accident survivors’ conference in Portlaoise on Saturday.

The conference was the first of its kind in Ireland and brought together survivors of farm accidents, family members and health and financial specialists.

Farming remains the most dangerous occupation in Ireland, with an average of 13 deaths per 1,000 workers on farms, compared with 2.5 deaths per 1,000 workers in other industries.

To date, 21 people have died as a result of farm accidents this year.

Senator Daly said: “I went on a fact-finding mission … I think there a number of well-intentioned farm safety groups but there needs to be consolidation of the groups.”

The senator went on to say that a farm safety authority should be set up, similar to the present Road Safety Authority, which would include all the farm safety groups.

Ultimately, this would give groups a stronger voice for dealing with the issue of farm safety.

Health and Safety Authority

Currently, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is answerable for the well-being of all types of industry workers in Ireland, and in its work with farms undertakes farm safety inspections. But Daly feels farming warrants its own safety authority.

“I think farming is a unique industry in that farmers are self-employed, working manually for long periods of time by themselves.

“The working conditions are often isolated and very solitary, and farming can’t be policed under the same umbrella as any other industry.”

In October, HSA chief executive Martin O’Halloran announced 11 new farm safety inspectors were being recruited.

However, he added that the HSA needed a total of 50 additional inspectors to ensure farm safety standards were being met in Ireland.

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