As part of a farm safety awareness campaign targeted at secondary school students and led by FRS Training, Farmer Phil has reminded students to think safety when working on farms or using farm machinery.

Speaking to Agriland at the National Ploughing Championship 2025, the Co. Longford-based farmer best known for his farming videos on YouTube noted the need for vigilance when it comes to safety on farms and when using farm machinery.

He said: "My advice to young people working on farms and with agri-machinery is to take it steady".

"Take it steady. Be cautious and be sensible about what you're doing."

He told the students thatwhat farmers first get their tractor licence: "You're fresh on the road and it takes time to build up the confidence on what you're doing."

His advice to secondary school students working around the farm with equipment and livestock is to "just take a step back, say 'What am I doing now, is it safe and what could I do to make it safer?'"

When working with livestock, he warned that "you can never really trust an animal", and urged young people on farms to keep this in mind even when working with what are perceived to be quiet animals.

FRS Training has announced it will launch a new Farm Safety Awareness programme targeted at second-level students across Ireland.

The new initiative will consist of face-to-face and webinar-led farm safety training sessions and is funded under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM's) dedicated Farm Safety budget.

According to FRS Training, the project will be implemented with two groups of students:

General secondary level students;
Transition Year and agricultural science students.

The new Farm Safety Awareness initiative will also provide assistance to teachers in educating students about the potential dangers associated with farming and agriculture.

The Farm Safety training modules aim to address all major farm safety risks and how to mitigate them, including:

Livestock;
Machinery;
Slurry;
Working at heights;
Tractors, and more.

In the coming weeks, all secondary schools will be invited to register their interest in the new Farm Safety Awareness initiative, which will be delivered by November 2025.

The latest figures from the Health Safety Authority (HSA) show that farms remain the most dangerous workplace in Ireland with a total of 171 fatal accidents recorded on farms in the past decade.

So far in 2025, there have been 12 farming fatalities, which is equal to the total number of fatalities in farming for all of 2024. Of the 12 farm fatalities this year, five (41%) have involved vehicles.

Speaking to Agriland on the rollout of the new initiative, Ben Fearn, head of sales and operations at FRS Training, said: "I am delighted that FRS Training has been selected to deliver this project to promote farm safety awareness among young people.

“We at FRS Training have always been committed to supporting safer farms through education and training, and to ultimately reduce the number of farm accidents in Ireland.

"While striving to reduce the number of farm-related accidents and deaths, it is vital to focus on young people – our future farmers.

"What they learn at a young age, they can carry that with them for the rest of their long careers, and this will help to build a strong culture of safe farming amongst the next generation.”