Farm accidents can have catastrophic effects on people’s lives, Dr Conor Deasy of Cork University Hospital has said.

He told the Irish Farmers Journal that many of the people who sustain these major life-changing injuries never get back to being able to manage that farm again.

A new study Trauma on Farms in the Republic of Ireland, which Dr Deasy conducted research for and was launched for Farm Safety Week 2020, has revealed that of the 6,000 accidents that happen annually in Ireland, 4% happen on farms.

“Our key message from this study to farming families is to think safety first.

“It’s twice as common to have major trauma [on] a farm as it is from other industries combined,” Dr Deasy said.

Animals

“The most common cause of major trauma in the study was due to large animals. It was farmers who were involved in trauma caused by large cows, horses and the farmer was coming out the wrong end of that trauma.

“We similarly found that over 25% of those injured on Irish farms were over the age of 65 and 6% were under the age of 16,” he said.

6,000 major trauma accidents

Dr Deasy said that every year in Ireland there are approximately 6,000 major traumas that cause life-threatening or life-changing injuries to people.

“What we were finding is that there were a lot of these traumas occurring on farms. So 4% of the major traumas that we're identifying coming into Irish hospitals were happening on farms.

“This is excluding those people who have fatal injuries on farms that never make it to hospital, and while 4% may not seem like a lot, we’re talking about all traumas – so we’re talking about traumas that are sustained as a result of assault, traumas that are sustained as a result of road traffic accidents, traumas that are sustained as a result of low falls,” he said.

Call out unsafe farm practices

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Martin Heydon has called on the farming community to "call out unsafe farm practices".

Speaking in a video for Agri-Aware to start off Farm Safety Week, the Minister with responsibility for farm safety didn't mince his words.

"The farm is the most hazardous workplace in Ireland, with 14 people losing their lives this year so far", he said. Minister Heydon called for "real behavioural change" from farmers to drive this figure down.

Farm Safety Week 2020 runs from 20-24 July 2020 and is an initiative led by the IFA in Ireland and Yellow Wellies UK.

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