Information on work-place safety which is used in other industries could be helpful to the agriculture sector to increase farm safety.
This is according to the founder of Ennis Safety Wear Ltd., Angela Ennis, who said safety issues in the construction industry and the agriculture sector are cross related.
The agriculture sector saw 12 fatalities last year and remains the sector with the highest number of fatalities, figures by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) show.
Seven fatalities were recorded in the construction sector in 2022, which is down 30% on the previous year. However, the industry remains one of the most dangerous, the HSA said.
Farm safety
Each farm needs to do its own risk assessment, Angela, who said she has seen the “ripple effect” a farm accident can have on a family when somebody is either injured or passed away, said.
Both of her parents come from a generation of farmers in the crops and dairy sector in counties Tipperary and Roscommon. Having grown up in Dublin, she held on to the “farming culture”.
Through her work at Dublin Port for the last nine years, which she said is a high-hazardous environment, she got involved in specialised work wear and started Ennis Safety Wear Ltd.
Speaking to Agriland, Angela said she remembers, as a child, seeing her own uncle and aunt putting on a pair of wellies and overalls before walking out to the milking parlour.
“But they are not putting on a pair of safety-toe wellingtons when they could be to protect their toes from the kick back from calves or from cows,” she said.
Stressing that farmers, if not around dairy cows, could also look at high-visibility (hi-vis) vests to make themselves be seen, the business founder said:
“I have seen my whole life people putting on overalls to go out and do some work on the farm. Everyone is doing it. But why not try and add some hi-vis when it is not going to affect animals?”
In terms of safety, the biggest factor in farming, she believes, is the dark nights.
“You spend half the year in dark nights and I have seen that my whole life,” Angela, who said farmers walk out into the dark with no real light, no head lamps, no hi-vis, added.
As a minimum in terms of safety she said each farmer needs toe protection, light, hi-vis of some sort to be seen, a head light to ensure hands are free, and some head protection.
“Clothing in any safety management system is considered the last line of the fence. If all you are wearing is clothing but you are not having a safe environment, you are still not safe,” she said.
Farms should do a risk assessment on the clothing that is needed based on the farming system in place, same as on a building site where, she said, no access is allowed without certain products.
Coming from a height rescue team herself, Angela said that in any environment other than farming no one would be allowed to work at height unless there is certain equipment in place to ensure there is no risk of falling.
If farmers are working on a ladder they should be connected to something and the ladder should be footed by somebody else, as well as inspected once a year, she said.
“Because I come from both sites [construction and farming], I can see how it is cross related,” Angela said.
“I can see where the issues are from a safety point of view. I have grown up watching it and I can see what the potential pitfalls are.
“It is really [about using] your farm as a commercial place of work and to look at it that way from a safety point of view.”