“Just because there are risks, it does not mean that farms should be dangerous places to work,” Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Martin Heydon said as he discussed farm safety recently.
The minister told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine that his department is “determined to reduce the rate of serious and fatal incidents in the agricultural sector”.
The minister outlined that between 2016 and 2020, there were 100 fatal incidents on Irish farms.
“This is a stark reminder of the dangers on farms. Of these, 46 involved a farm vehicle, seven involved machinery and 20 involved livestock,” the minister said.
“The age profile of those involved in farm incidents is also a serious concern, with the old and the very young accounting for 65% of fatal incidents on farms.
“Of 54 workplace deaths in Ireland in 2020, 20 were on farms, which is hugely disproportionate to the share of the workforce of our country, with just 7.1% of people employed in the sector in 2019.
“Unfortunately, to date this year, there have been seven fatal incidents on farms. Every death is one too many.
“Behind each of these numbers is a family, a farm and a local community that has suffered an irreversible loss.”
‘Blame games’ for accidents on farms
Senator Victor Boyhan told the committee meeting that “it is worth stopping and thinking” about what a farm accident is.
“A farm accident is an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally. It typically results in damage; in many cases there is loss of life and injury. We have to look at it in that context.
“Too many accidents lead to blame games. I know family members who have been involved in serious farm accidents involving chainsaws, ploughs and stuff. We need to be conscious that no one sets out to have a farm accident.
“They happen unintentionally and result in great injury and distress to family and the community.”
The senator said that given the complexities of farming today, a farmer “effectively has to be an accountant, to be a safety officer, to be computer literate and to deal with piecemeal schemes like BEAM and knowledge transfer partnerships, etc.”.
“There are enormous pressures on farmers in terms of finance and delivering on their farms and making them successful. That feeds into a sense of anxiety and speed and a need to get things done.
“That is not to make an excuse but it is part of the context around some accidents that happen on farms.”
Identify and mitigate risk on farms
Minister Heydon added that farmers are “sometimes, perhaps, taking on jobs that should be done by two people and doing them on their own”.
“That is a challenge for us, especially when we look at the statistics regarding the age profile of the farmers in this area.
“None of these points are excuses, though. Where factors contribute to farm accidents and fatalities, we must try to identify and mitigate them.
“However, we also need farmers to recognise where there are potential hazards in the activities they are undertaking.
“I refer in particular to the need to recognise that if a job requires two people that it is then necessary to wait until another person is available to help, instead of farmers perhaps opting to take on such a task alone and thereby taking a real risk.”
Senator Paul Daly, who has brought the Farm Safety Agency Bill to the Seanad, said his “big fear and worry” is that there are people “still falling through the net”; that the message of farm safety is not reaching everybody.
“How can we get to those people?” the senator asked.
“Those who fall through the net can include those who are not members of a farmers’ representative organisation and those who are not Teagasc clients, in addition to those who have not gone to agriculture college or obtained a green certificate.
“If we reach 99 out of 100, there could still be one in 100 who could have an accident.
“I seriously worry about the people who are slipping through the cracks. How can we get to everybody through awareness-raising and training?”
Private sector role in farm safety
The senator added: “What communication, if any, has the minister of state had with the private sector? I am thinking of insurance companies, in particular. Could there be a partnership with insurance companies on the promotion and advancement of farm safety?”
Deputy Heydon responded: “There is a lot we can do through leveraging, not just in respect of insurance companies, which obviously have skin in the game in working with us to reduce and prevent the number of farm safety incidents and make farming safer, but also in respect of co-operatives.
“Ultimately, the farmer’s farm is his or her greatest asset. From a business perspective, the farmer is integral to a co-operative in that he or she delivers the produce the latter puts on sale.
“All of the relevant bodies have strong corporate responsibility, and we could work with them.
“That is where I see a role for the €2 million [for farm safety in Budget 2022] I have secured this time. It is not the only fund available – we also have funding under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, and other schemes – but there is now a dedicated fund.
“I envisage the €2 million being used solely to give to projects in the area of farm safety. I envisage having the ability to leverage it, working with the private sector, to deliver even more money where projects are good and worth supporting.
“It may be a matter of considering innovative ways of communicating because this is key all the time. Communications are always changing.
“Historically, we had newspaper, television and radio advertisements but we can look to other areas. That is something I am working on. The private sector could also play a role in that regard.”