The Waterford Farm Safety Award 2018, sponsored by insurance broker Hooper Dolan Insurances, was presented yesterday, January 17, at a function in Dungarvan.

Noel Griffin’s farm in Cappagh, north of Dungarvan, was selected from five finalists for the prize – which was to the value of €2,000 – and a trophy courtesy of Waterford Crystal.

The awards, which are in association with Teagasc and are open to farmers across the ‘Deise county’, aim to highlight farm safety standards.

Firstly I want to say how delighted we at Hooper Dolan are to sponsor an award scheme to help promote good farm safety standards on our farms across Co. Waterford, as farm accidents have become such a huge problem across the county and indeed the country.

Cathal Lowe, chief executive of Hooper Dolan, and who presented the award, said: “The response to our new Farm Safety Award scheme has been very encouraging for such a new scheme. I want to congratulate and thank our five finalists for their cooperation and high farm safety standards, and in particular our overall winners, Noel and Sinead Griffin.”

The winning farm is a family-run dairy enterprise, where Noel, Sinead and their family were judged to have the highest standards of safety – from their dairy parlour and slurry facilities, to farmyard lighting, machinery and a children’s play area.

They have also constructed a passageway under a busy road for the movement of cattle.

John McNamara, health and safety officer at Teagasc, and chair of the judging panel, said: “Farming needs constant health and safety management to prevent accidents due to its hazardous nature, and we found that participants were very motivated to manage farm health and safety on a continuing basis.

“In addition, we observed numerous innovative safety features to solve farm-specific problems, clearly showing that farm safety was in participants’ mind-sets,” he added.