Mizen club scores high on farm safety
“Our area is no different from any other area, we are not immune to farm accidents and we have had tragedies in recent years, and have seen their effect, not only on families, but on the farming community and the community that surrounds it.
“Often the GAA is called in to support families in that situation, and it is very good at doing that,” Connie said.
“Our core business is football and hurling, however in 2010 we began to look outside that and talk about other issues that affect our players. Our numbers are very tight, and we saw the importance of the survival and health of our players from the neck up and the neck down.
In 2010, we set up the ‘Care for our Players’ programme. which we think is unique to our club.
“Under health and well-being, we operate an amber flag programme for suicide awareness and hold positive mental health days once a year.
"Under the jobs and enterprise remit, we talk about promoting local enterprise and shop local, using billboards to advertise. Our road safety programme has been recognised locally and regionally and has won a national award from the Road Safety Authority.
“In 2014, farm safety became so topical that we felt we should go beyond road safety and include farm safety. We organised to take some of our players over to the Bantry Driving Academy, which has an off-road track purpose built for learner drivers.
"It is mostly for learning to drive cars, but we used it on that day with the help of Farm Relief Services, who supplied us with a tutor to teach our people about tractor safety.
“We got some funding from our local FBD office, and those involved had a very nice day out there.
“They learned about farm, tractor and machinery safety and we thought it was appropriate and worked very well.
“It is something we intend to do a lot more of.”
