€1.5m farm safety enterprise launched

THE largest single farm safety enterprise ever attempted in this country is under way by the Health and Safety Authority at a cost of over €1.5 million.

More than 160,000 packs containing the new agriculture code of practice are being dispatched to farmers nationwide.

So far this year, 17 people have been killed on Irish farms. One of those was just four years of age and 10 were aged over 65.

Health and Safety Authority chief executive Tom Beegan said it is not just farmers who are dying but their children and elderly relatives.

The pack offers a practical means of preventing farm fatalities.