Christmas 2023 is with us at last. The holiday period is always a busy time on farms.
For one thing, there tends to be more people around the place – with folks off work and the children not at school.
With more people on the scene and everyone wanting to help out, the risk of a serious accident taking place becomes all the greater.
Preventing accidents from taking place requires those involved in any farm-related activity, taking that little bit of extra time to work through all of the permutations with regard to what could, and what could not happen.
No job is that urgent that an extra minute or two of preparation would not help the project to be completed in a safer manner.
All of the regulations in the world will not improve farm safety levels on Irish farms. Mind you, any farmer found to be breaching any health and safety regulations must be dealt with vigorously, by all relevant adjudicating bodies.
Staying safe on farm
What’s really required, though, is a concerted effort on the part of those involved within the farming industry to put their safety, and the safety of others first at all times.
Children are particularly vulnerable, when it comes to farm accidents. They tend to get into places where they shouldn’t be, simply because they are young and full of life.
It’s up to parents to make sure that the next generation of farmers are taught from the get-go that farms are inherently dangerous places, and that nothing can be taken for granted – ever.
Farm machinery continues to get bigger. Moreover, the speed that modern tractors and other powered vehicles can now achieve around farmyards and enclosed spaces is frightening.
It has gotten to the stage where I will always look twice before entering any farm building, just to make sure that I am not about to encounter some very large piece of shiny machinery coming towards me at breakneck speed.
The reality is that animals, machinery and slurry gases can all kill.
Throw in the potential to fall off roofs, walls and the myriad other structures found in yards and it’s not hard to work out why farming is the most dangerous way-of-life followed in Ireland today.
Staying safe is all about thinking safe. I think this principle should form the kernel of New Year resolutions made on farms across Ireland over the coming days.