Primary schools are urged to promote safety on farms

Primary schools have been urged to take 30 minutes before the summer break to join in a national effort to prevent children from being seriously injured or dying on a farm this summer.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has written to all primary school principals in the country asking them to make sure the last message they give children before the summer break relates to farm safety.

Farm accidents have claimed the lives of 23 children in the last decade and the HSA pointed out that farms remain the only workplace where children still continue to die.

The safety body said that recent weeks have again seen the death toll rise on Irish farms and noted that summer holidays are a high-risk time for children who are off school and spend a lot of time on their family farm or visiting friends’ and relatives’ farms.

The top risks to children on farms during the summer period are: Tractors, machinery and other farm vehicles; travelling on farm vehicles; playing where there is work activity on the farm; unsupervised access to farm animals; and playing near slurry pits or being around slurry agitation activity.

The HSA letter to schools includes a link to slides with key farm safety messages for children on the HSA website.

HSA chief executive Martin O’Halloran said teachers would need to spend just 30 minutes before the end of the school year to impart the farm safety message to pupils.

“We are calling on schools to join us in a national effort, to prevent children from being seriously injured or dying in a farm accident this summer,” said Mr O’Halloran. “I am asking every teacher to spend 30 minutes communicating key farm safety messages to children. Summer is a very busy time for farmers, when much work needs to be done. Farmers need to be prepared for the presence of children during the holidays.”

Senior inspector with the HSA Pat Griffin said that, since the original launch of the campaign in October, approximately 350 out of the 3,500 primary schools around the country had used the HSA material.

“Obviously, not all of these schools are in rural communities but 350 is quite disappointing, for me,” said Mr Griffin. “That’s 10% of schools that have used the ‘Keep Safe on the Farm’ package. So we are appealing to primary school principals that when they get this letter if they just the time to bring kids through this package and prevent some death or injury this summer.”

www.hsa.ie/education