Farm Safety Week encourages farmers to make their farm a safer place to work and live in. The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is calling on farmers to review their work practices to ensure safely in all their tasks.
IFA President Tim Cullinan comments that “farms are the most dangerous workplace in Ireland and that has to change. I am calling on every farmer to look at their farm and identify one change they can make to make it safer. It might be changing a damaged manhole cover, fixing a light on the tractor, buying a helmet for the quad – big or small identify one thing and fix it. The rate of farm accidents and fatalities is too high and we need to make change and think safety first.”
Mr Cullinan added that “We need to adapt a stronger culture of farm safety, and we are asking farmers to do this now.” This he said would serve to reduce the risk of accident or worse.
This week’s collaborative campaign is initiated by The Farm Safety Partnership in the UK, and led by the IFA in Ireland. It unites farming organisations from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England around the topic of farm safety.
Statistics show that vehicles and machinery account for 50% of farm deaths, with the elderly and children at increased risk. The IFA highlights the fact prevention, training, maintenance and safe work practices are essential to good working practice.
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