Text messages to alert farmers to work dangers

Farmers in fields, sheds and yards across the country are to receive text messages today to remind them of farm safety.

There were 14 deaths on farms last year from accidents ranging from a child who was crushed under the wheels of a tractor to a farmer who was killed by a bull. There were also more than 3,000 non-fatal accidents.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) said it was sending the text messages to its 85,000 members to highlight the dangers, at the start of Farm Safety week.

“It causes terrible trauma to a family. If it is a fatal accident, it is much more detrimental but there can also be serious loss of limbs and that often isn’t highlighted enough,” said farm family committee chairwoman Mary McGreal.

About 30% of workplace fatalities take place in the farming sector even though it only employs 6.5% of the workforce.

Nearly half of all deaths involve machinery, with animals, tree-felling and slurry activities the other common causes.

Ms McGreal warned that children were particularly at risk.

“They use the farm as a playground but they should be discouraged. It is a very dangerous place, particularly when there’s heavy machinery,” she said.

She said that the economic pressures on farming families had increased the dangers.

“A lot of farming wives go out in employment and the husband is trying to juggle between childcare and farm work because they can’t afford childcare.”

A recent study by the farm advisory service Teagasc found 75% of farmers’ regarded farming as dangerous but that only 25% considered there were ‘any dangers’ on their own farm.

Teagasc has been urging farmers to complete the Farm Safety Self-Assessment documents which were posted nationally in a bid to raise awareness, but just 28% of them have been returned so far.

The ageing profile of Ireland’s 130,000 farmers has also contributed to the rise in accidents.

Teagasc health and safety officer John McNamara said older people should not feel compelled to help their younger relatives with farm work due to the risks involved.

“We’re focusing particularly on age because seven of the 14 fatalities last year involved people over the age of 65.”

Two farmers were killed last year – one in the north west and the other in the south east – when their quad bikes overturned.

The high-speed bikes are used by farmers to travel over fields to inspect and feed stock.

Mr McNamara said there was a high risk of the bikes overturning if they hit bumps and added that farmers should take the safety courses run by the manufacturers.