It has been said at a health and safety conference this morning that “near misses” with farm accidents have to be prevented by actions and not by luck.
The message came at this morning’s National Conference on Farm Safety and Health and was delivered by the Health and Safety Authority’s chief executive, Dr. Sharon McGuinness.
“We don’t hear about the near misses and the close calls that happen while working on farms. Every close call is an event that could have brought you or somebody you love closer to being a statistic.”
McGuinness also said: “Farms are businesses and need to be managed efficiently. But farms are also family homes. People don’t just work there, families live there.
So far this year eight farmers aged 70 and over have been killed in accidents. This does not happen in any other industry. We ask farmers and farm families to put their safety and health first.
“Together with farmers and their families, we all must collaborate and work together to make farms safe and healthy places to work and live,” she concluded.
The conference took place today at the Dolmen Hotel in Co. Carlow in a joint collaboration between the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and Teagasc, with FBD sponsorship and the support of the Farm Safety Partnership.
The theme of the event was to raise awareness on safe farming in challenging times and was organised by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).