Farm safety is back in spotlight

A day when farms are safe workplaces in this country, when children spend their early years in safety preparing for a life in farming, is an ideal recently outlined by President Michael D Higgins.

He was commenting on figures from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) which shows that 193 people have bee killed in farm accidents in the period 2005 to 2014, with 49% of those involving tractors and machinery.

In recent years, 20 people on average have been killed each year in farm-related workplace incidents.