DEAR EDITOR: Our names are Darragh and Muireann and we are from Scoil Mhuire Fatima, Timahoe, Co Laois. We are in fifth class and love farming and science.

We have been doing a project over the past few months on safety around slurry pits for the Intel Mini Scientist Competition. We won our school competition and went on to the regional finals in December.

We are writing to you to appeal for your help in tackling the big issue of safety around slurry tanks on farms. The following is a short summary of our project research, experimentation, results and conclusions.

We researched the statistics and were shocked to find out 10% of deaths on farms involved slurry and 30% of deaths in children were linked to slurry.

We researched the statistics and were shocked to find out 10% of deaths on farms involved slurry

We surveyed local farmers to see what kinds of slurry safety standards were in place. Firstly, we visited Darragh’s dad’s farm, which represents a typical cow shed and slurry pit in Ireland.

Then we did an online survey to investigate what other local farmers had in place for slurry safety. We were shocked to find out that the safety precautions around slurry pits are minimal.

We were also shocked to find out there is not much on the market at present that farmers can use to make their slurry pits safer. This is where we come in. We decided to try to make something ourselves that would fit the bill.

We made a model of a typical farmyard and shed and did a risk assessment of the key areas of danger. We came up with a plan of a safety management system which we think would be of huge benefit to farmers and reduce the risk around slurry pits. This safety system is two-fold.

We were also shocked to find out there is not much on the market at present that farmers can use to make their slurry pits safer

Firstly, we aim to make a sensor which would be situated near the manhole and when anybody (including children) come near the open manhole, then an alarm would go off, warning whoever is near of the danger. The farmer would also get a notification on his phone to alert him.

Secondly, we want to place a gas meter inside the shed, so when the gas levels begin to get to a dangerous level, an alarm would go off. We think this two tiered system would benefit farmers in Ireland and make slurry pits a lot safer.

Following on from our project, we would like to make the following recommendations:

  • Increase the awareness of dangers of working around slurry tanks and agitating slurry through safety campaigns and education courses.
  • Provide farmers with mandatory regular safety training and refresher courses.
  • Introduce mandatory alarm systems to be fitted around slurry tanks. This could be done by the Department of Agriculture and carried out by independent contractors. These would need to be inspected regularly by the Department of Agriculture as part of inspections that already take place. If farms do not have alarm systems installed, they could face financial penalties. Dairy farms are expanding, encouraged by Government. They need to help regulate safety on farms.
  • Make grants available to farmers to purchase a safety alarm system to reduce the number of deaths associated with slurry tanks.

    • We would like to thank you for taking the time to read our letter. We feel very strongly about the issue of safety around slurry tanks and hope you might consider some of our proposals.

    Yours sincerely,

    Darragh and Muireann.

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