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

Source: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

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.

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