Victims of work-related farm fatalities were disproportionately older people, according to the latest publication from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
47% of victims were aged 65 years or older. The HSA said that the high rate of work-related fatalities to older workers indicates that older farmers may need to take special precautions to avoid serious injury or fatality when engaged in certain farming activities.
The details are contained in the publication: A Review of Work-Related Fatalities in Ireland 2011-2020.
The report reveals that more work-related fatalities occur in agriculture than any other economic sector in Ireland.
In the 10-year period 2011 to 2020, 208 of the 495 work-related fatalities in the Republic of Ireland occurred in agriculture.
Age of victims in farm deaths
While almost half of victims of work-related deaths in agriculture were aged 65 years or older, 21 fatalities involved people under 18 years of age, of whom 16 were non-workers.
Most incidents involving children and young people happened when the victims were simply near to farming activity, or riding farm vehicles as passengers, and not when they were working on the farm.
Almost half of the work-related fatalities to children and young people occurred during the school summer holiday months of July and August, and of these incidents, all but one involved vehicles.
Vehicles and machinery
The HSA report states that almost half of all work-related fatalities in agriculture involved vehicles (93 incidents).
This makes vehicle-related incidents by far the single most common type of incident leading to fatilities in agriculture.
39 work-related fatalities involved vehicles striking people on foot or on bicycles.
Of these, 23 occurred when parked vehicles rolled because the handbrake was faulty or insufficiently engaged.
This means that over one in 10 of all work-related fatalities in agriculture were caused by parked vehicles rolling out of control and striking people.
Work-related fatalities involving vehicles peaked during the summer months, probably reflecting increased activity during this period, according to the authority.
Tractors were involved in over half of all work-related fatalities involving vehicles, with some tractors several decades old at the time of the incident.
17 work-related fatalities in agriculture involved machinery.
A large number of different types of agricultural machinery were involved, including compressed air gates in sheds, diet feeders, a baler and a topper.
Unlike most other incidents leading to work-related deaths in agriculture, machinery incidents mainly affected victims aged under 65 years.
Cattle
There were 37 work-related fatalities involving cattle, according to the report.
Most were caused by attacks by cows with calves (13), by the victim being knocked over by cattle without aggression (9), or attacks by bulls (6).
Most victims of work-related fatalities involving cattle were older people, with 70% occurring to those aged 65 years or older.
Falls on the farm
There were 21 work-related fatalities in agriculture involving falls. The most common of these involved victims falling through fragile roofs.
These incidents mainly occurred when victims climbed onto the roofs of farm buildings to repair or clean them and stood on fragile roof surfaces such as Perspex skylights or rotten roof beams, or fell through unfinished gaps in the roof.
Falls predominantly affected older victims, with over half of all fatal falls occurring to victims aged 65 years or older.
Meanwhile, 15 work-related fatalities involved the collapsing of loads onto the victim.
Seven involved the falling of bales and three involved the slipping of vehicles under maintenance onto the victim.
The most common type of incident with bales involved the victim working in a shed when stored bales became dislodged.
Drowning
13 work-related fatalities involved drowning, with eight victims drowning in slurry. In four cases, victims fell into temporarily opened slurry tanks during agitation or extraction of slurry.
Other drowning incidents involved a water tank, a pond and a river, as well as a silage pit and liquid feed tank.
Dr. Sharon McGuinness, chief executive officer, HSA said:
“I express my deepest condolences to the families of all the victims. It is our mission at the Health and Safety Authority to ensure all workplaces, including farms, protect their workers from work-related injury and ill-health, and all work environments are safe.
“By understanding and highlighting the circumstances of these untimely fatalities, we can continue to work together with key stakeholders to ensure we inform and protect those people working in Agriculture in Ireland.”