What does it take to wake up the farming community to not take chances in the workplace? To not waiting to get help if it’s needed? To not thinking: ‘Ah, sure, it’ll be all right,’ when they know in their hearts and heads that what they’re about to do is dangerous?
Would picturing the impact of their death or injury on spouses and children make them put safety first? Read on if you want to get that picture.
Crystal clear – that’s what the memory of the day the accident happened is for each person interviewed for this article.
On 30 September 1959 Laois native Larry O’Loughlin, at the age of six, along with two siblings, Carmel and Tom*, witnessed a tractor over turn on their father while he was clearing furze. He was killed instantly.
“It is still crystal clear in my mind,” Larry says. “I remember it as if it was yesterday evening.”
Fifteen years ago, on 13 September 2003, Ann McCormack from Ballymitty, Co Wexford, and mum to Ciara and twins Niamh and Padraig, found her husband, Noel, dead under a topper that he’d been repairing in a shed.
“The day it happened never leaves you,” Ann says. “You remember every detail. The children remember everything about that day too, very clearly.”
Larry O’Loughlin is a retired Teagasc regional manager from Rosenallis, Co Laois. Ann McCormack and her now-grown children live in Ballymitty, Co Wexford.
All have had support from and are involved with EMBRACE Farm, the support charity for families affected by farm accident.
Irish Country Living asked each person when or if the grief eased. “Personally, I don’t think it has ever lifted,” Larry says. “I still would get emotional when I talk about it now, nearly 60 years later.”
This is obvious, particularly when the fact that his son was playing on the Laois team in the recent Leinster final was mentioned. “I missed my dad most as a young lad after playing a football match,” he explained.
Ann McCormack says it is quite a few years down the line before the grief lessens a bit. “You’re trying to keep things normal for the kids as well, but some days you could be out and see others with their partners and you just feel lost. You think you’re coping and then something else comes along and reminds you.”
For the McCormacks the awareness of Noel’s absence, while there all the time, is worst on special days like graduations. The last one – Niamh’s – will happen this October.
Does talking about it help?
The two families differ in the degree to which they talked about their loved one’s death.
Larry says his father’s death was never spoken about. “At the time it was something that wasn’t done. As siblings we didn’t talk about it and it wasn’t mentioned in school. People would change the subject, thinking they were doing you a favour really. Life went on. You just got on with things as best you could. I know that there’s more help for everyone now from day one.”
He has never had counselling and has never thought of seeking it. He did, however, feel able to include a photograph of his father, the tractor and some of the family with him in a book that he produced in 1999 about the history of Rosenallis.
Ann McCormack, who received bereavement counselling from Family Life Services in Wexford after her husband’s death, has always made a point of talking about Noel to her children and is glad she did as she believes it helps. The family received weekly counselling for some months. CL
Ann’s story
They had all seen Noel at 4pm. that day when he had chosen a tie from two that Ann had brought home on appro from a local shop ahead of her brother’s upcoming wedding.
“He didn’t mind which, as he was easy going, but little did we think that we wouldn’t see him alive again. It is believed that he died at 4.10pm. We called and searched at suppertime and rang people, but only found him at 11pm. Because of the way the tractor and topper were in the shed we didn’t realise he was there. Because he was always so careful, you’d never think it would happen. We buried him in that tie…”
Noel McCormack tragically died in a farm accident in 2003.
Ann found the second year worse than the first after her husband’s death in terms of grief.
“It was because I realised Noel wasn’t coming back – that this was now my life forever. The first year was so full of trying to cope. I was working as a doctor’s receptionist and was milking before I’d go to work and trying to mind the children and keep an eye on cows calving.
“Sometimes you wonder how you got through what happened. It’s just heartbreak. With no will made, finances were complicated and the bank account frozen for a time. There’s a lot of legal stuff to deal with when someone dies, and you’re grieving and you just don’t know whether you’re doing right or wrong.”
Ann ultimately decided to lease the farm and is delighted that all her children are now through college and that Padraig has begun to farm at home as well as working as a farm manager. “It will take years to build it up again but I’m glad it’s there for him,” she says.
Even if Ann could save one family the pain they’ve gone through by telling their story it would be worth it, she says. “Even now, when I hear of another farm accident, my heart starts to thump, knowing that some other family is going through what we went through.”
Larry’s story
Larry O’Loughlin’s mother, Sara, was only 39 when his father was killed. Their 10 children were aged from 14 down to 18 months.
Larry and his siblings had eaten dinner after school and then gone out to see their father working in the field that he was reclaiming using a steel rope to pull the furze. It is thought that their father’s foot got caught under the clutch. “He wasn’t able to stop the tractor in time. It just went up and over.”
Larry O'Loughlin tragically died in a farm accident.
Larry’s mother, Sara, continued to farm the mixed farm of 90 acres and went into milk in the 1960s. While the lack of a will and her not being the owner of the farm prevented access to credit, her main emphasis was education. “She was a remarkable woman and insisted that we all went to boarding school. Farming was profitable at the time and profits were put into educating us, rather than into developing the farm.”
Emotional and practical support came from family and neighbours, he says. His mother was a founder member of the ICA in Rosenallis, which was an outlet for her, he believes. She died at the age of 98.
Larry has been on the board of EMBRACE Farm, and is understandably passionate about the need for farmers to think safety. “Figures for deaths on farms are around 25 a year – the same as in the 1970s, when I first lectured about farm safety. That is unacceptable.”
Larry believes we should look to the success of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and do more to create awareness of farm safety. “The RSA really stepped up, particularly under Gay Byrne’s chairmanship. Awareness campaigns must be better resourced and a strategic campaign designed to reduce fatalities. We need to have a well-resourced Farm Safety Authority. Teagasc is doing a lot, as is EMBRACE, but we need more.
“We also have to increase the level of signage on farms. Danger signs have to be in everybody’s face all the time – not just at the gate. Maybe they don’t have to be as dramatic as has been done with cigarette packets but they should be everywhere – on mudguards, at slurry tanks, on roofs, anywhere there is a danger – so that the farmer will stop and think about safety and what could happen if this job isn’t done right.”
How the bereaved families coped
WHAT HELPED?
Practical help on the farm given by wider family and very good neighboursA family interest in sport.Continuing family traditionsBereavement counselling in some casesWHAT THEY ARE THANKFUL FOR
The fact that Noel McCormack had spent a lot of time with his children as they grew up and begun a tradition of family days out to Croke Park. Ann continued that tradition.
Larry O’Loughlin values his mother’s strength and her focus on education that allowed them all to do well in life. ADVICE
Be aware of the dangers on your farmDon’t take chances Think of your familyMake a will, particularly if you have children or/and propertyWHAT MADE THE SITUATION WORSE
The accident happening on the farm because of continuous exposure to the memories of the accident. “There is no solution to that other than to work to stop accidents happening to others,” Larry O’Loughlin saysFarm bank accounts being frozen because of the death and the “legal limbo” that resulted from a will not being made.Too much advice about what should be done with the land. “You need the chance to decide what you want without people taking over and deciding what’s best for you,” Ann says. “Really in Ireland people think women don’t know anything about farming – that old way of thinking is still so much alive.”Talking about it. Larry is unsure whether this did or didn’t help in the long term. “There was no help then, only family staying together and helping one another. We all had to deal with grief in our own way.”GET HELP
www.embracefarm.com
www.iacp.ie (Irish Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists – county by county list)
Family Life Services bereavement counselling (in Wexford town)
What does it take to wake up the farming community to not take chances in the workplace? To not waiting to get help if it’s needed? To not thinking: ‘Ah, sure, it’ll be all right,’ when they know in their hearts and heads that what they’re about to do is dangerous?
Would picturing the impact of their death or injury on spouses and children make them put safety first? Read on if you want to get that picture.
Crystal clear – that’s what the memory of the day the accident happened is for each person interviewed for this article.
On 30 September 1959 Laois native Larry O’Loughlin, at the age of six, along with two siblings, Carmel and Tom*, witnessed a tractor over turn on their father while he was clearing furze. He was killed instantly.
“It is still crystal clear in my mind,” Larry says. “I remember it as if it was yesterday evening.”
Fifteen years ago, on 13 September 2003, Ann McCormack from Ballymitty, Co Wexford, and mum to Ciara and twins Niamh and Padraig, found her husband, Noel, dead under a topper that he’d been repairing in a shed.
“The day it happened never leaves you,” Ann says. “You remember every detail. The children remember everything about that day too, very clearly.”
Larry O’Loughlin is a retired Teagasc regional manager from Rosenallis, Co Laois. Ann McCormack and her now-grown children live in Ballymitty, Co Wexford.
All have had support from and are involved with EMBRACE Farm, the support charity for families affected by farm accident.
Irish Country Living asked each person when or if the grief eased. “Personally, I don’t think it has ever lifted,” Larry says. “I still would get emotional when I talk about it now, nearly 60 years later.”
This is obvious, particularly when the fact that his son was playing on the Laois team in the recent Leinster final was mentioned. “I missed my dad most as a young lad after playing a football match,” he explained.
Ann McCormack says it is quite a few years down the line before the grief lessens a bit. “You’re trying to keep things normal for the kids as well, but some days you could be out and see others with their partners and you just feel lost. You think you’re coping and then something else comes along and reminds you.”
For the McCormacks the awareness of Noel’s absence, while there all the time, is worst on special days like graduations. The last one – Niamh’s – will happen this October.
Does talking about it help?
The two families differ in the degree to which they talked about their loved one’s death.
Larry says his father’s death was never spoken about. “At the time it was something that wasn’t done. As siblings we didn’t talk about it and it wasn’t mentioned in school. People would change the subject, thinking they were doing you a favour really. Life went on. You just got on with things as best you could. I know that there’s more help for everyone now from day one.”
He has never had counselling and has never thought of seeking it. He did, however, feel able to include a photograph of his father, the tractor and some of the family with him in a book that he produced in 1999 about the history of Rosenallis.
Ann McCormack, who received bereavement counselling from Family Life Services in Wexford after her husband’s death, has always made a point of talking about Noel to her children and is glad she did as she believes it helps. The family received weekly counselling for some months. CL
Ann’s story
They had all seen Noel at 4pm. that day when he had chosen a tie from two that Ann had brought home on appro from a local shop ahead of her brother’s upcoming wedding.
“He didn’t mind which, as he was easy going, but little did we think that we wouldn’t see him alive again. It is believed that he died at 4.10pm. We called and searched at suppertime and rang people, but only found him at 11pm. Because of the way the tractor and topper were in the shed we didn’t realise he was there. Because he was always so careful, you’d never think it would happen. We buried him in that tie…”
Noel McCormack tragically died in a farm accident in 2003.
Ann found the second year worse than the first after her husband’s death in terms of grief.
“It was because I realised Noel wasn’t coming back – that this was now my life forever. The first year was so full of trying to cope. I was working as a doctor’s receptionist and was milking before I’d go to work and trying to mind the children and keep an eye on cows calving.
“Sometimes you wonder how you got through what happened. It’s just heartbreak. With no will made, finances were complicated and the bank account frozen for a time. There’s a lot of legal stuff to deal with when someone dies, and you’re grieving and you just don’t know whether you’re doing right or wrong.”
Ann ultimately decided to lease the farm and is delighted that all her children are now through college and that Padraig has begun to farm at home as well as working as a farm manager. “It will take years to build it up again but I’m glad it’s there for him,” she says.
Even if Ann could save one family the pain they’ve gone through by telling their story it would be worth it, she says. “Even now, when I hear of another farm accident, my heart starts to thump, knowing that some other family is going through what we went through.”
Larry’s story
Larry O’Loughlin’s mother, Sara, was only 39 when his father was killed. Their 10 children were aged from 14 down to 18 months.
Larry and his siblings had eaten dinner after school and then gone out to see their father working in the field that he was reclaiming using a steel rope to pull the furze. It is thought that their father’s foot got caught under the clutch. “He wasn’t able to stop the tractor in time. It just went up and over.”
Larry O'Loughlin tragically died in a farm accident.
Larry’s mother, Sara, continued to farm the mixed farm of 90 acres and went into milk in the 1960s. While the lack of a will and her not being the owner of the farm prevented access to credit, her main emphasis was education. “She was a remarkable woman and insisted that we all went to boarding school. Farming was profitable at the time and profits were put into educating us, rather than into developing the farm.”
Emotional and practical support came from family and neighbours, he says. His mother was a founder member of the ICA in Rosenallis, which was an outlet for her, he believes. She died at the age of 98.
Larry has been on the board of EMBRACE Farm, and is understandably passionate about the need for farmers to think safety. “Figures for deaths on farms are around 25 a year – the same as in the 1970s, when I first lectured about farm safety. That is unacceptable.”
Larry believes we should look to the success of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and do more to create awareness of farm safety. “The RSA really stepped up, particularly under Gay Byrne’s chairmanship. Awareness campaigns must be better resourced and a strategic campaign designed to reduce fatalities. We need to have a well-resourced Farm Safety Authority. Teagasc is doing a lot, as is EMBRACE, but we need more.
“We also have to increase the level of signage on farms. Danger signs have to be in everybody’s face all the time – not just at the gate. Maybe they don’t have to be as dramatic as has been done with cigarette packets but they should be everywhere – on mudguards, at slurry tanks, on roofs, anywhere there is a danger – so that the farmer will stop and think about safety and what could happen if this job isn’t done right.”
How the bereaved families coped
WHAT HELPED?
Practical help on the farm given by wider family and very good neighboursA family interest in sport.Continuing family traditionsBereavement counselling in some casesWHAT THEY ARE THANKFUL FOR
The fact that Noel McCormack had spent a lot of time with his children as they grew up and begun a tradition of family days out to Croke Park. Ann continued that tradition.
Larry O’Loughlin values his mother’s strength and her focus on education that allowed them all to do well in life. ADVICE
Be aware of the dangers on your farmDon’t take chances Think of your familyMake a will, particularly if you have children or/and propertyWHAT MADE THE SITUATION WORSE
The accident happening on the farm because of continuous exposure to the memories of the accident. “There is no solution to that other than to work to stop accidents happening to others,” Larry O’Loughlin saysFarm bank accounts being frozen because of the death and the “legal limbo” that resulted from a will not being made.Too much advice about what should be done with the land. “You need the chance to decide what you want without people taking over and deciding what’s best for you,” Ann says. “Really in Ireland people think women don’t know anything about farming – that old way of thinking is still so much alive.”Talking about it. Larry is unsure whether this did or didn’t help in the long term. “There was no help then, only family staying together and helping one another. We all had to deal with grief in our own way.”GET HELP
www.embracefarm.com
www.iacp.ie (Irish Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists – county by county list)
Family Life Services bereavement counselling (in Wexford town)
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