Amended regulations on the safe use of quad bikes will be coming into effect later this year, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has said.
According to the HSA, the objective of amending the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Applications) Regulations 2007 is to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries that are associated with the use of sit astride all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), more commonly known as quad bikes, in the workplace.
The amended regulations – Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 – would provide a legal requirement for the wearing of head protection while using a quad and for operators of these vehicles to attain professional training.
The review of regulation is currently with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and the intention is that these new rules will come into effect later in 2021, the HSA said.
Most dangerous place of work
As the HSA notes in its regulatory impact analysis prepared to assess the proposal to amend the 2007 regulations, ATVs are used predominantly in the agriculture sector, and also in related land use sectors.
“The agriculture sector is currently the most dangerous place of work within the Irish economy,” the HSA said in its impact analysis.
“While the sector represents approximately 6% of the national workforce, it regularly experiences up to 50% of national annual workplace fatalities.
“Over a 10-year period [2009-2018], tractors, ATVs and other vehicles represent 30% of workplace fatalities in the agriculture sector, with ATV fatalities showing a significant increase in recent years.
“Within these, 11 fatalities are attributed to the operation of ATVs.”
The HSA also acknowledges that the popularity of the ATV “is largely due to its ease-of-use, relatively low cost, their utility and low running costs when compared with other transport options”.
Farm safety to be addressed in CAP
Speaking recently, Minister of State Martin Heydon said that the Department of Agriculture is incorporating farm safety into the next CAP strategic plan for 2023 to 2027, which is currently in development.
“While farm safety is not an issue for the CAP negotiation process – the council’s agreed general approach to CAP reform does not reference farm safety – this does not mean that we cannot address it in the context of the next CAP,” the minister said.
He said that Ireland has an “unacceptably high level of farm fatalities”, and that all measures in the CAP strategic plan “should have a health and safety element incorporated as appropriate”.
“We can expect to see health and safety requirements feature strongly in our training programmes for farmers and advisers, as well as through the various measures from on-farm investments to livestock schemes and the rest,” he added.