A farm safety inspection blitz will be rolled out on farms across the country from 13 July by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
The focus of the farm inspection campaign will be on tractors, farm machinery, ATVs and quads.
The inspections will take place from 13 July until 24 July.
To date this year there have been 14 confirmed farm fatalities in Ireland, many of which involved machinery.
Machinery is the number one cause of farm accidents in Ireland, with elderly farmers and children at particular risk.
Figures from the HSA show that being entangled in PTOs, crushed under a machine part, caught in a machine mechanism, crushed between vehicles and struck by a machine object are the main causes of deaths with farm machinery.
Livestock safety
Earlier this year, the HSA carried out a specific livestock safety inspection campaign in which it conducted 340 inspections in addition to routine inspections.
An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, whose brief now also includes farm safety at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, said the agriculture sector remains one of the most high-risk sectors in terms of workplace fatalities and injuries and this is a matter of concern to him.
The agriculture sector is different from other sectors as farms, as well as being workplaces, are usually homes
Of the 27 workplace accidents reported to the HSA this year, almost half have been farm fatalities.
“The agriculture sector is different from other sectors as farms, as well as being workplaces, are usually homes, with children and the elderly also living on the farm.
“Many farmers are part-time or have employment off the farm and, being self-employed, many are reluctant to retire, resulting in the average age of a farmer being over 58 in Ireland,” he said this week.
He added that the farm safety partnership advisory committee intends to deliver a new programme of work for the sector during 2020.
Read more
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Watch: Farm Tech Talk - grass quality, herd health and farm safety
A farm safety inspection blitz will be rolled out on farms across the country from 13 July by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
The focus of the farm inspection campaign will be on tractors, farm machinery, ATVs and quads.
The inspections will take place from 13 July until 24 July.
To date this year there have been 14 confirmed farm fatalities in Ireland, many of which involved machinery.
Machinery is the number one cause of farm accidents in Ireland, with elderly farmers and children at particular risk.
Figures from the HSA show that being entangled in PTOs, crushed under a machine part, caught in a machine mechanism, crushed between vehicles and struck by a machine object are the main causes of deaths with farm machinery.
Livestock safety
Earlier this year, the HSA carried out a specific livestock safety inspection campaign in which it conducted 340 inspections in addition to routine inspections.
An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, whose brief now also includes farm safety at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, said the agriculture sector remains one of the most high-risk sectors in terms of workplace fatalities and injuries and this is a matter of concern to him.
The agriculture sector is different from other sectors as farms, as well as being workplaces, are usually homes
Of the 27 workplace accidents reported to the HSA this year, almost half have been farm fatalities.
“The agriculture sector is different from other sectors as farms, as well as being workplaces, are usually homes, with children and the elderly also living on the farm.
“Many farmers are part-time or have employment off the farm and, being self-employed, many are reluctant to retire, resulting in the average age of a farmer being over 58 in Ireland,” he said this week.
He added that the farm safety partnership advisory committee intends to deliver a new programme of work for the sector during 2020.
Read more
Farmer Writes: financial 'unsustainability' plays a role in farm safety
Bishop appeals to government to prioritise farm safety
Watch: Farm Tech Talk - grass quality, herd health and farm safety
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