Tragedy on our farms: A dangerous occupation

Despite launching campaign after campaign in a bid to alert farmers to the ever-present risk of death on the farm, the grim toll of fatal accidents continues without an end in sight.

Fatalities are now so commonplace that people tend to forget the reality that behind every statistic is a bereaved family and yet another funeral for a farmer who was killed while going about his daily business.

Farming is now one of the most dangerous occupations in the country.

Dealing with frighteningly large and ever more powerful machinery, the risks of being injured or killed if something goes wrong are plain to see. Yet it happens again and again, and when the neighbours congregate, the whispered talk is of another tragic loss and the risks involved in pursuing a career in agriculture.

The latest tragedy, which occurred in Co Clare on Wednesday evening, illustrates the uncertain nature of the hazards facing farmers.

Tragically, a farmer died after sustaining a head injury when inflating a lorry tyre which exploded. The bitter irony is that the accident happened on the eve of a national farm safety conference held by Teagasc and the Health and Safety Authority.

Paradoxically, awareness of the danger has never been higher among farmers. Yet so far this year the death toll on the farm has now reached 20 and half of those fatalities were caused by machinery while four resulted from accidents involving heavy round bales which can roll and crush a man without warning.

Significantly, Cork is the worst county for farm deaths and to date, four farmers have died in the county this year.

Unless there is a fundamental change of outlook, the growing trend of death on the farm will continue to make headlines, leaving yet more families to grieve over the loss of a father, husband, son or brother.

The only way to stop the growing carnage besetting the agriculture industry is for every farmer to be super conscious of the dangers they face every second of every minute in the day.