A total of 1,171 farm safety inspections were carried out so far this year, compared to 1,337 which were carried out nationwide for the entire of 2023.
The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) continues rolling out its Farm Safety Action Plan 2021- 2024 which aims to reduce the level of fatalities, serious injuries and ill health in the agriculture sector.
The plan focuses on high-risk activities particularly around the use of tractors and other farm vehicles, livestock handling and working at height. It also aims to improve farmer skill levels around risk identification and management.
The most amount of farm safety inspections this year were carried out in Co. Cork, bringing the total number of farm safety inspections over the course of the last four years to 632.
Meanwhile, there was only one inspection carried out in counties Dublin and Waterford. The table below shows a county breakdown, with low figures for the year 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
County 2021 2022 2023 2024 Total Cork 5 167 290 170 632 Tipperary 21 19 163 161 364 Cavan 10 131 115 87 343 Limerick 0 2 65 163 230 Kerry 1 1 103 103 208 Offaly 7 119 62 19 207 Galway 16 43 47 84 190 Leitrim 5 38 60 38 141 Monaghan 12 54 49 22 137 Roscommon 26 36 12 53 127 Meath 38 42 29 14 123 Kilkenny 16 11 66 28 121 Laois 15 59 28 16 118 Mayo 19 25 0 73 117 Westmeath 11 34 41 11 97 Sligo 8 23 26 40 97 Wexford 25 41 10 19 95 Kildare 0 43 18 16 77 Donegal 7 7 34 27 75 Longford 21 31 18 2 72 Carlow 6 13 43 3 65 Wicklow 29 8 12 4 53 Clare 4 25 19 4 52 Louth 6 20 12 5 43 Dublin 1 17 7 1 26 Waterford 3 13 8 1 25 Total 312 1,022 1,337 1,171 3,842
Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Equality Emer Higgins said that farming continues to be “one of the most dangerous sectors” in which to work.
Over these last 10 years, there were 96 machinery and vehicle related fatalities on Irish farms and there were 98 fatalities as a result of falls from height in Irish workplaces, of which 20 were on Irish farms, according to the HSA.
The HSA’s Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee was established to involve all industry stakeholders in coming up with an action plan on improving occupational safety and health in agriculture.
The FSPAC and the working groups meet regularly to develop and sign off on prevention resources and to discuss progress on delivery of the action plan.