A man was taken to hospital after the tractor he was driving collided with a tree in Co. Meath yesterday evening, Thursday, July 23, according to An Garda Síochána.

Confirming the news to AgriLand, a Garda spokesperson said:

“Gardaí attended the scene of a single vehicle collision which occurred yesterday afternoon at 4:00pm in Dunmoe, Co. Meath.

A tractor collided with a tree in the incident. The driver of the tractor was taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda for treatment of his injuries.

“These injuries are not thought to be life-threatening,” the Garda spokesperson added.

Workplace injuries

Agricultural workers suffer more than twice as many non-fatal workplace injuries as workers in other sectors, according to new research on farm safety.

To coincide with this year’s Farm Safety Week, which concludes today, a research paper entitled “Trauma on Farms in the Republic of Ireland” written by Dr. Michael Sheehan, Dr. Conor Deasy and Louise Brent was published.

The paper was a study of the data collected as part of the Major Trauma Audit at the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA). The paper, which examines the period 2014-2016, is the first significant study concerning this topic in Ireland.

In the years 2014 through 2016, 430 patients met the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) and Major Trauma Audit (MTA) inclusion criteria where the incident location was a farm.

33% of paediatric patients presented as a result of a ‘blow’, 26% due to a vehicle incident and 19% as a result of a fall less than 2m.