Last week was Farm Safety Week. This was a collaborative campaign that was initiated by the Farm Safety Partnership in the UK, that brought together farming organisations from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England on the subject of farm safety. In Ireland, Farm Safety Week was led by the IFA and was supported by Teagasc.
This initiative came about by the appalling record of fatal accidents and serious injuries that take place on farms in Ireland and the UK. Ireland, in particular, does not have a great record when it comes to farm safety.
Figures released last Monday by the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) showed that there were 27 fatalities on farms throughout the UK during 2022/23. What makes this figure stand out is that agriculture represents only 1% of the workforce in Britain, yet the fatality rate in agriculture accounts for 18% of all deaths in the workforce. These figures may sound worrying and indeed they are, but Ireland does not fare any better.
In the same period (2022/2023) there were 12 fatalities on farms in Ireland. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Labour Force Survey, agriculture represents 8% of the workforce in Ireland but 40% of work related fatalities came from farms.
Summer time is a very busy period on farms. More people are around, extra staff are hired and, with the school holidays, more children are also around on the farm. This is a good reason to be ever more vigilant when it comes to farm safety. However, Farm Safety Week should not be just focused on the farming community. Landscapers, grounds people, greenkeepers, and foresters also experience similar dangers in their working environment, particularly while operating machinery.
The fatality figures already mentioned are far too high and they need to come down. We may have a far too casual attitude when it comes to farm safety, especially when operating equipment. Our industry has a care of duty to inform our customers of the dangers associated with farm equipment. Asking our customers to read the safety manual and to keep it close by is very important. Encourage them to send in faulty machines for repairs, especially when it comes to missing or faulty pto guards. Allowing farmers to carry out major repairs should be discouraged. Such repairs should be left to the experts in our industry i.e. the mechanics in the dealership workshops.
Modern tractors are now capable of faster speeds than ever before. This is very handy for highway driving but such high speeds are not necessary around the farmyard. Again, we should highlight this fact when selling new tractors. The dangers from quads must also be pointed out, which are getting very popular on farms. Last Tuesday Farm Safety Week focused on quad safety.
This poster is free to download from Teagasc. Click to get a copy
Perhaps posters highlighting farm safety could be displayed in prominent positions throughout our showrooms. Our sales reps could also carry spare posters to hand out to our customers. There are many farm safety posters that are freely available to download and print online. If we did that these posters would alert our customers to the dangers that exist with operating machinery.
Let us lead the way to support farm safety. It is in all our interests.
