Farms are getting bigger. Machinery is getting bigger. There are more animals on farms. Time stands still for nobody. Now more than ever farm families need to sit down and stand back from the action and assess how their farm rates on farm safety.

We’ve all been warned on the dangers, but, not enough of us have actually done anything about it. Have we replaced the broken parts with the correct equipment?

Have we stopped rushing and maybe got someone else to complete a task rather than trying to burn the candle at both ends?

Often farmers feel they have invested so much time and money in high-cost machinery that they are obliged to work the machines 15 hours a day to try and justify the cost.

Often it’s not sustainable. We are not talking about environmental sustainability, we are talking about business sustainability, and we are talking about life and everything that goes with it continuing.

On most Irish farms, as Albert Evans and his wife discuss on page 46, there is one person or a farming couple that the farm is dependent on for most of the workload. When something happens that takes one or both away from the farm you are dependent on the goodwill of others to get the business to survive.

Farming is not a business you can walk away from. The clear message from those working with survivors and those families that have been left without a loved one is that every single farm family needs to assess for themselves the risks.

Every farm family needs to partake in training. Every farm family ideally should get an outside pair of eyes to come in and assess the family farm for risks that might not be obvious or might be conveniently parked to one side for one reason or another given other priorities.

Take this reminder as a most important call to action.