Safety warning for farmers: Take it handy

AS spring struggles to push winter aside, the countryside is beginning to wake up. 

A new cycle of regeneration begins. Farmyards that were little more than feed lots for the last few dark months are beginning to wake up. As farmland becomes more workable, heavy machinery returns to the fields and some will be used to spread slurry accumulated over the winter months.

This process is one of the farm jobs focussed on during 2,837 farm safety visits carried out by the Health and Safety Authority last year. Slurry management, along with safe facilities for calving, and safety guards on PTO drive shafts, topped the HSA to do list.

Farm safety is a never-ending task — 18 people died on farms last year — but nevertheless it should be to the forefront of planning work programmes for all farmers. The HSA warns there are roughly 100 non-fatal farm injuries reported to the HSA each year, but they believe there is “significant under-reporting”. Farms are dangerous and often lonely places to work so every precaution should be taken.