ABP Food Group has announced that it will be sponsoring the Farm Safety award at the upcoming 2023 BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition later this month.
Announcing the sponsorship today (Tuesday, January 4), the processor said 2023 will be the ninth consecutive year that it has sponsored the category, which aims to educate young people about the dangers in farming environments.
According to ABP, the award has led to the development of numerous projects focussed on reducing these risks and improving farm safety overall, which it said is “a very prevalent issue in Ireland today”.
According to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), there were 12 work-related deaths in the farming sector last year, accounting for 46% of all Irish workplace deaths in 2022.
In addition, an estimated 37% of farmers said they have had a “near miss or close call” with an animal, while 18% have had a “serious” animal-related incident in the past five years, according to research from Teagasc.
Amie Coonan from ABP’s agricultural team said “safety continues to be an area of major concern on Irish farms, with farm-related deaths accounting for a disproportionate number of workplace accidents every year”.
“The Farm Safety Award has produced a variety of groundbreaking projects since its inception, which have sought to improve different aspects of farm safety in creative ways,” she added,
“Farm safety is an issue that requires continuous education, research and innovation to address, and we look forward to seeing the innovative new projects from this year’s award entrants.
“I would like to thank all of the young people taking part this year for their submissions, and for their work and interest in trying to improve farm safety,” she added.
The competition, which will run from January 11-14, in the RDS arena in Dublin, was held virtually last year due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Despite this, no less than 23 farming and agri-related projects took part in the exhibition, many of which focussed on sustainability, livestock health and farm safety.
Agriland reported on some of the projects featured which included a power take-off (PTO) safety stopper device, a solar-powered predator detection and prevention system for poultry buildings, and a sensor-powered ‘bottomless bucket’ device, among many others.