Concern over Fatal Accidents on Irish Farms
FARM SAFETY policy is not working the way it should and something is wrong when 50 percent of workplace deaths happen on farms, which make up 5 percent of workplaces, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said yesterday.
Already this year, 40 per cent of workplace fatalities had taken place on farms despite the work being done to improve safety and the only conclusion is that the policies are not working, he said.
Ireland s figures are somewhat better than other countries apart from Scandinavia, but looking at this issue in terms of figures and raw data is a cold way of doing it, he said at the international conference on agricultural occupational health and safety in Dublin.
Ireland needs to learn strong lessons from countries where policies are working, he said.
Earlier, the Minister told delegates from 10 countries attending the conference there was an obligation to get farm safety on the agenda of the reform negotiations of the Common AgriculturalPolicy (Cap).
He said while he knew farmers hated regulations and red tape, it would be irresponsible of us when discussing the Cap not to discuss the question of farm safety.
The Minister said the linking of farm safety to direct payments such as the Single Farm Payment, environmental schemes and disadvantaged area payments was a mechanism that would allow the issue be discussed.
Martin O Halloran, the chief executive of the Health and Safety Authority, said farm safety visits were geared towards influencing a positive change of attitudes on farms towards safety.
The number of farm safety inspections this year would almost double from last year and the 3,000 visits to farms would focus on the main danger areas tractors and machinery and working with livestock.
We are also prioritising efforts aimed at children and the elderly on farms, both of whom are particularly vulnerable, he said.
David Meredith of the Teagasc Rural Economy and Development Centre, Ashtown, Co Dublin, told delegates there had been a shift in the age of farmers killed on Irish farms because of changes in the economy. In the 2003-2007 period, 80 per cent of the victims were over 45 years of age but in the 2007-2010 period, the majority of deaths were taking place in the 15-44 year age group.
He said this reflected the number of younger people now working on farms, especially since the collapse of the construction industry which had absorbed many males off Irish farms who were now back working the land.
He warned about the growing number of deaths in the forestry sector. It was important people working in forestry were properly trained in the felling of trees and how to handle trees blown down by wind.
One of the workshops focused on the problem of children travelling on tractors and young people driving machines. Niklas Adolfsson, of the Swedish Institute of Agriculture and Environmental Engineering, said it was fairly common for farmers to carry children as young as two years on their lap.
In Sweden, extra seats could be fitted for about EUR 500 but the consensus was children should not be allowed travel on tractors.
It emerged at the discussion that the British authorities are considering making seat belts in tractors mandatory. International safety expert Risto Rautiainen, who works in the US and Finland, questioned the logic of teaching young people to drive tractors.
