Safety on farms urged this summer

"People are under pressure and working long hours and fatigue comes in."

Members of the agricultural community are urged to be aware of the dangers that surround them this summer.

Fianna Fáil senator Paul Daly has said that everyone must be “cognisant of the fact that there’s pressure on” and to make an even more conscious effort to put farm safety to the fore of all the work they carry out, whether it involves machinery or animals.

“People are under pressure and working long hours, and fatigue comes in,” Mr Daly said.

“The silage season is firstly determined by the climate and if you don’t get the right weather then there’s a small window.”

Mr Daly told the Irish Examiner that there is going to be “even more pressure on contractors” this year when it comes to silage season, “and farmers will be a lot more demanding in getting it done on the day they need it to get done”.

“They [farmers] need to get the maximum yield and quality because it has cost them so much to get to that point with the fertiliser costs and the input costs, so they’ll want it done right and they’ll want it done on the day they want it done and that will be an added pressure this year,” Mr Daly added.

He has urged agricultural contractors to ensure that “young, and inexperienced” recruit drivers for the summer are fully aware of the dangers associated with their work.

Mr Daly added that farmyards are sometimes treated as “playgrounds”, with many farm families living in very close proximity to the site. “You have to be so careful, young children don’t always see the danger,” he said.

Machinery is big now, the wheels alone are so big, there could be a child anywhere that you wouldn’t even see.

“Everyone has to be wary and conscious of that. It’s all awareness at the end of the day.”

He said farm safety should be highlighted more at a younger age “within the structures of the education system”, alongside the work done by Agri Aware through the Farm Safe Schools programme.

“I think that’s a definite way of getting the message through. Once young people are educated, it’s with them for life, as well as the message they will be passing on to the older generations,” Mr Daly added.

Similarly, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon said conversations about farm safety “need to happen across the kitchen table at every given opportunity”.

There have been over 200 farm-related deaths in Ireland in the last decade.

There were nine farm fatalities in 2021, and Mr Heydon said that while the trend has been reducing, “we must double down our efforts this year in terms of promotion of farm safety”.

He said an overall “change in culture” is needed, and anyone external to the farm who will be visiting over the coming months should not “miss the opportunity to address issues of farm safety, and mental health and wellbeing”.