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IFA president Tim Cullinan has hit out at people who are recording pranks with farm machinery for uploading on the TikTok social media app.
He said the practice is “grossly irresponsible and is an accident waiting to happen”.
“I am disgusted that people could be so casual and have no regard for the dangers involved in what they are doing,” he said.
Hard look
With eight farm fatalities already this year, Cullinan said those carrying on like this should take a hard look at themselves.
“Too often, people are not willing to act responsibly and identify the risks.
“All farmers and contractors need to make it clear to their employees that engaging in these practices is a sackable offence,” he said.
The president of ICMSA Pat McCormack has said that people driving tractors while filming themselves for upload on to social media platforms was “dangerous, irresponsible and had to stop”.
He said that he was appealing to these young drivers – specifically young men – to recognise the incredible dangers this practice represented and to stop it immediately. He said it was to do no more than state the obvious that this was an invitation to tragedy and he urged the people who engaged in this to stop “if not for their own sakes then for the sakes of other road users who will end up injured or worse when the inevitable accident happens.”
McCormack said that 99% of farmers would be “aghast” at people not giving this work the concentration and focus it most certainly needed and he said there would be no sympathy or support for people caught and prosecuted for this kind of recklessness.
Cop-on
Senior inspector with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) Pat Griffin last week told the Irish Farmers Journal that farmers need to cop-on and plan their work professionally.
Griffin said that farmers need more training, more advice and to connect with farm organisations.
“We’ve run out of new guidance that we can provide them with. It’s over to them, they have to follow it. You could nearly say that for every fatality, some rule has been broken,” he said.
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