Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 15 Jun 1999

Vol. 506 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Farm Safety.

Mr. Penrose

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, for coming to the House to address this matter. It is high on his agenda and he has made a number of contributions on farm safety. I welcome the opportunity to raise this important matter on the Adjournment.

As we approach one of the busiest times in the farming calendar, it is vital that every safety procedure is employed on farms to prevent accidents and every avenue is explored to ensure the farming public, particularly young people, are made aware of the dangers.

Last year, 27 people died on farms. This figure, as the Minister of State will agree, is unacceptable but it is of extreme concern that six of those who died were children. The figures for the first few months of this year seem to indicate this trend is continuing. By the middle of January two farm deaths had already occurred, one involving a child. Another frightening statistic which is of concern is that since 1990, one in four of all farm fatalities involved children. There are far too many serious accidents happening on our farms which have left people disabled for life.

I accept that it is much easier to apply safety mechanisms to industry than to farming. As a senior inspector with the health and safety authority said, the working area is also the living area and this is where particular dangers are posed with regard to the supervision of children on farms. There are obvious dangers on farms of which every farmer should be made aware. Slurry agitation and the consequent emission of methane gas from slurry pits is an obvious one. The transportation of high loads of bales, where there can be contact with overhead electric cables or extended or overhanging trees and branches also pose a difficulty. Power take off transmissions may result in people becoming entangled especially if they are wearing loose-fitting clothing. Everyone should all be aware of these dangers. The use of heavy machinery, especially during the silage and hay making season also poses a danger. The dangers posed by livestock should not be underestimated either. Last year, three adults were killed by a bull, a cow and a stag. Already this year there have been fatalities in this area.

Everyone has a role to play in reducing the unacceptable number of farm deaths occurring in Ireland. I compliment the Irish Farmers' Association for its ongoing farm safety campaign and its recently launched national advertising campaign on farm safety. Every avenue should be explored and used to ensure the farming public is aware of the dangers involved, particularly during the high season. More can be done. The National Safety Authority is on record as saying there is now an urgent need for farmers to draw up a list of where accidents could happen. Until this is done by every farmer in the country there will not be real progress.

There is also an onus on the Minister for Agriculture and Food to step up the campaign to improve farm safety. Regular and ongoing farm safety checks would significantly improve farm safety standards. However, as it stands, the number of health and safety authority inspectors is inadequate and they are already overburdened by requests to inspect non-compliant workplaces.

Another major contribution which could be made towards reducing farm accidents is a sustained education programme, particularly in rural schools. At this time of year, young children are looking forward to endless days playing on the family farm but few of them are aware of the dangers they may face. This should entail the use of video demonstrations to heighten the awareness of the dangers one can face on a farm and it should include the concealed dangers as well as the obvious ones. Likewise, a video on the dangers on farms should be produced and shown at livestock marts throughout the country.

I impress on the Minister of Agriculture and Food that he should work with his counterpart in the Department of Education and Science and the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, to establish a safety awareness programme which would be available in all rural schools as soon as practicable. I have no doubt that parents, farm organisations and teachers would be prepared to contribute to such a programme. The work of the farm safety task force, when it comes to full fruition, should not go unnoticed. I urge the Minister to take its recommendations on board and that they be fully analysed and enacted as a matter of urgency.

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Mr. T. Kitt)

I am very much aware of Deputy Penrose's concern and interest in this important matter. As Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs, I have spoken on this issue on a number of occasions and have been pro-active as possible in working with the health and safety authority as the number of accidents and fatalities, particularly relating to children, is totally unacceptable.

The health and safety authority is the State body charged with responsibility for the day-to-day administration, enforcement and promotion of all workplace health and safety legislation. This legislation applies to all sectors of employment, including the agriculture sector. Agriculture is, however, unlike any other sector of employment. It is a sector where self-employment predominates and where additional help may come from both the immediate and the extended family. In this regard, the greatest risk of injury or fatality is to farmers themselves or to members of their families. In addition, farming is an occupation which can involve an individual working alone on a remote site covering a broad spectrum of tasks and is a sector where, due to its seasonal nature, work practices are strongly affected by weather and ground conditions. All of this conspires to make farming a particularly high-risk activity and unique in the type of preventative approaches needed. Unlike any other work sector there is a very particular risk posed to children by virtue of the family home being so close to the place of work.

The primary role of the authority in this area is to assist farmers to carry out their work safely by giving them appropriate guidance, information and support. This is done in close co-operation with all the main farming organisations who are best placed to ensure that this guidance reaches those at whom it is directed. Non-fatal farm accidents actually decreased overall in recent years as farm safety awareness increased and farmers took ownership of their safety and that of their families. In 1998 there were, however, 26 farm fatalities which included six children. What these figures show is that continuous awareness and vigilance is vital.

I am advised by the health and safety authority that it will continue to treat agriculture as an ongoing priority area of activity. In 1999 the authority has planned 1,000 inspections in the farming and forestry sector which is an increase of 200 over the 1998 figure. Particular attention will be paid throughout the year to the promotion of child safety with the assistance of farming organisations, the education authorities and the Garda community liaison service. An emphasis will also be placed by the authority on encouraging farmers to carry out appropriate risk assessments and to draw up safety statements. In addition, the authority will participate in a European campaign on farm safety focusing especially on safety statements and child safety education and training.

The authority is organising an information campaign on child farm safety during the 1999 summer season, targeting both safe work and safe play on farms and is also preparing a code of practice on the prevention of accidents to children on farms. A wide range of pre-holiday initiatives are already under way by Teagasc, supported by the authority. These include a radio advertisement campaign, newspaper articles, radio interviews with Teagasc education officers on each local radio station at peak farmer listening time and the holding of family safety competitions at local agricultural shows.

In addition, the authority has written to all primary schools through the Department of Education and Science, urging them to re-show a video "Farming – a way of life" which was produced and first distributed in 1996. The intention is that this video will be shown before the summer holidays. The video is also accompanied by a teacher's manual.

The authority's farm safety task force continues to offer guidance to the authority and to spearhead promotion activities. The members of this task force are drawn from the farming community itself and they work closely with farming organisations and Teagasc. The authority this year is also part funding a Department of Health and Children promotion at the Clinical Sciences Institute, University College Galway. This will involve an evaluated report on the safe tractor driving programme and the provision of an evaluated farm safety information-activity package for use in primary schools as part of an ongoing agri-sector project.

The key to tackling the issue of farm safety, as with all sectors of employment, centres around the principles of awareness, assessment and prevention. Farmers must acknowledge that farming is a hazardous occupation which carries very specific risks to themselves, their workers and, indeed, their families. It is essential that farmers assess all the risks, both to themselves individually and to others who may be on the farm, before undertaking farm tasks, and then put in place the necessary safety measures before attempting these tasks. The concept of a safety statement is as applicable to a farm as it is to any other business or place of work. In drawing up a safety statement, a farmer will automatically go through the whole process of identifying both hazards and risks, and also the appropriate safety measures. Where such safety statements exist, they should be kept under regular review.

The Health and Safety Authority has an extensive range of information material available to anyone seeking advice and guidance and also works closely with all the major farming organisations. I encourage all farmers to seek information from either of these sources on how best they can improve their work practices and so ensure the health and safety of both themselves and their families. For its part, the Government will continue to fully support the authority in its activities in relation to farm safety.