Farm accidents rise 31% in 10 years

By Joe Dermody

Farm accidents have risen by 13% in the last five years and by 31% in the last 10 years, according to the Teagasc National Farm Survey 2012-17.

The five-year study looked at 2,814 incidents in all, with 11% of farms reporting an accident.

Dairy farms had the highest accident rate of 18%, then tillage (12%) and sheep (11%) farms, with the cattle systems of rearing (9%) and finishing (8%) reporting lower accident levels.

Teagasc director, Prof Gerry Boyle, said: “Farm accidents cause tragedy, pain and suffering, disability and economic loss, so it is vital to give safety first priority. Teagasc will focus on lessons from the survey findings in its efforts to assist farmers to improve farm safety.”

Some 42% of accidents involved livestock, with farm vehicles and/or machinery involved in 25%. Trips or falls resulted in 13% of accidents followed by chainsaws (7%) and farm buildings (6%). The share of accidents involving farm vehicles or machinery has more than doubled from 2011 to 2017, while livestock related accidents increased by 26%.

The 2017 Teagasc NFS survey indicates the vast majority of on-farm accidents (92%) involved a family member, with 80% occurring to the farmer; while 12% involved a spouse or another family member.

The remaining accidents involved workers (5%) and others (3%). Almost all farm accident victims (97%) needed medical treatment with 73% attending hospital, 19% a doctor and 4% first aid. Some 1% of such accidents

reported

resulted in a fatality.

Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, said: “These non-fatal accident statistics make for stark reading and highlight that behaviour is an important part of safety. My department has included a farm safety component to the Knowledge Transfer Group meetings and also made farm safety a mandatory part of drawing down TAMS grants.

“Farmers need to take time to plan their work and not take risks. The impact on families of serious accidents is unquantifiable, so I appeal once again to farmers to make the change to keep safe.”

The 2017 Teagasc NFS farm accident survey data represents 85,000 farms with a standard output of greater than €8,000. The study is co- authored by Teagasc Health and Safety Specialist, Dr John McNamara with Teagasc NFS colleagues Dr Emma Dillon, Mr Brian Moran and Dr John Lennon.