The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) is calling on the 8,000 farm businesses, selected at random, to complete and return the voluntary Farm Safety Partnership Survey.

The Farm Safety Partnership was launched in 2012 with the aim of increasing farm safety awareness and related farm injuries.

The Partnership has produced a survey for farmers to complete and the results will be used to support its work in farm safety.

UFU President Ian Marshall said the Partnership was launched to reduce the number and severity of farm accidents in Northern Ireland.

“Making progress on this difficult issue however depends, in part, on knowing more about the situation on the ground, including the type and number of accidents that are occurring.

“As a result, the Partnership has developed a postal survey to gather information on a range of important farm safety issues,” he said.

Participation of the survey is completely voluntary, however, the completion of the questionnaire by the 8,000 farm businesses selected would be of great significance to the Farm Safety Partnership.

Completion of the survey would allow accurate and up-to-date information be obtained by the Partnership so that improving farm safety would be an easier task.

The UFU President wants to assure those who complete the survey that the information collected will be held in strict confidence and only used for analysis and statistical purposes.

He also asked respondents to the survey to be open and frank in their responses.