Gardai and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) are investigating the death of a 26-year-old man who died in a farming accident in Co Cork last night.
Reports suggest the man died after he became trapped underneath a trailer at a farm in the Clonakilty area.
The man’s body has been removed to Cork University Hospital, where a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
Commenting on this latest tragic accident Teagasc’s National Health and Safety Specialist, John McNamara, said: “The latest reported fatal death is absolutely tragic. One life taken is one to many.”
Teagasc is urging farmers to continuously review their risk assessment analysis. McNamara noted: “Farming is wide ranging. That’s the benefit of the risk assessment document. It gets farmers thinking about the key issues in the context of their farm.
“Farmer’s know their own farms better than anyone. Farms can be very dynamic places. The key challenge is to get every farmer to identify the dangers and do something about it. That is the advantage for the risk assessment document. It is a check sheet and it is extremely comprehensive.”
According to McNamara: “The major areas of concern include accidents involving tractors, falls from objects and falls form heights, Livestock, Slurry (drowning and GAS).
“We want to motivate farmers to think about farm safety. Most accidents are preventable the control measures are there.”
McNamara was keen to highlight that while farm safety in now starting to get some attention, farmers often don’t think about their health.
He noted that Teagasc will soon be publishing a book that will address this area and is designed to encourage farmers to think about their health.
He said: “There is a common misconception out there that farmers are very healthy, because they’re out in the fresh air and they do lots of exercise. But farmers need a NCT sometimes as well. Heath is an important attribute often overlooked. Farmers have five times the mortality rate at the working age between 16-64 than other professions.”