Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 October 2011
10 Deputy Nicky McFadden asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide an update on the recent initiatives in which he has been involved; and his views on the increased numbers of fatalities on farms this year. [27703/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am delighted the Deputy has asked this question because farm safety is an issue which is not spoken about enough. When one looks at the figures for the numbers of fatalities on farms, one begins to realise why this issue should be a priority. I took a number of specific initiatives in this area over the summer. In June I made the opening address at the national farm safety conference which was organised by the Health and Safety Authority in Roscommon. The theme was livestock safety. In June I also attended Dublin Zoo to launch the family farm and countryside safety week at the request of Agri-Aware. In August I made the opening address at the annual international meeting on agricultural occupational health and safety held for the first time in Ireland. In September the Irish Farmers' Journal contained a farm health and safety supplement, to which I contributed a short piece promoting increased awareness of farm safety and focusing, in particular, on the need to change farming attitudes, the key issue in farm safety. I also visited and lent my support to the Health and Safety Authority stand at the National Ploughing Championships in Athy a few weeks ago.
In addition to these initiatives, I have been involved in and my Department is strongly committed to promoting farm safety in tandem with the Health and Safety Authority which is responsible for health and safety in the workplace more generally. A large number of organisations are trying to contribute to this issue. There is a farm safety partnership advisory committee, to which all the key stakeholders in agriculture contribute.
Even with all of that work, we have tragically seen 18 fatalities on Irish farms and five fatalities in the fisheries sector. Farming accounts for approximately 6% of the workforce in Ireland, yet this year more than half of the people who will die at work will be farmers or fishermen, which is an absolute scandal about which we must do something. We need to change what is in farmers' heads and in those of their wives and families. Their workplace is their home, which often results in lax and inappropriate attitudes to their safety and that of their children and families. I will continue to try to raise the priority, in terms of policy, given to farm safety in order that we can try to make an impact on what are tragic and unacceptable figures.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
The statistics consistently indicate that the highest proportion of farm fatalities involve accidents with tractors and other farm machinery. Livestock, in particular bulls, comes next, followed by falls and drowning accidents. Despite the good work being carried out by the HSA, the farm safety partnership, Teagasc, the Agricultural Consultants Association and the farming bodies, we have not had the desired impact on reducing farm fatality figures.
I am totally committed to supporting farm health and safety initiatives, as is my Department. There is legislation in place, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, which places the same duties on farmers as on other self-employed persons to provide a safe place and a safe system of work for their employees. The HSA has doubled its safety inspections this year to 3,000. While enforcement has a role to play, the key to bringing about a change in the farm fatality figures is to bring about a cultural change among farmers regarding farm health and safety. The key to bringing about this cultural change is self-regulation by farmers, by which I mean they need to challenge themselves in regard to the potential for their tractor or livestock or other aspect of their farming activities to cause the next fatality and, most important, to consider what they can do to prevent a fatality from happening. They need to make farm safety an integral part of the farming culture.
The farm safety strategy is fundamentally about changing attitudes through raising awareness. Teagasc has been very active to date in providing farm safety training for farmers nationwide. My Department is dealing with the farm safety element in the dairy efficiency programme 2010-12. This is especially relevant because the dairy sector consistently has the highest number of farm fatalities among all farming enterprises. Farm safety is given a prominent place on my Department's website and it continues to be incorporated into all farm building specifications as they are drawn up or reviewed.
My Department will continue to support and work with the farm safety partnership advisory committee, the HSA, Teagasc and others in achieving a reduction in fatalities and accidents on Irish farms.
I commend the Minister and the HSA on the initiatives taken. Some 1,500 deaths have occurred, all of which could have been avoided. Some 54% were caused by livestock, in particular bulls. The use of machinery and tree felling are also a source of serious concern. While I commend the Minister on the initiatives he has taken, I wonder about the undertaking of an awareness campaign in the media, including on television.
I do not wish to take away from the question, but the Minister touched on the marine sector. There is an issue about the use of personal beacons as opposed to EPIRBs, emergency position indicating radio beacons, with which I know the Minister is familiar. There seems to be some resistance in this regard. Perhaps he might investigate the Department's attitude to moving towards the use of personal beacons rather than EPIRBs, particularly for inshore boats. We all remember the yacht which overturned. The EPIRB did not work because the yacht did not sink. The personal beacons activated the emergency services. Perhaps the Minister might consider that issue.
A couple of weeks ago a neighbour of mine was attacked by a bull and died as a result. It had a devastating impact. The Minister is right in that farmers who have grown up on farms and been around animals and livestock all their lives tend to think they understand them but at a moment's notice, an animal can turn on them. The devastation caused by these accidents is considerable and we must do more in this regard. Most of the information given is on the use of machinery, lifting and so forth, but as Deputy McFadden said, 54% of accidents are caused by livestock. It is vital, therefore, that we inform people in a more robust and better way about livestock.
This is primarily a machinery and livestock issue with reference to the handling of powerful animals, some of which are unpredictable, particularly bulls. The number of bull beef animals has increased as a proportion of the stock. In the past there would have been a lot of bullocks whereas now there are a lot of young bulls being produced for beef, which carries with it some risk.
On the use of machinery, 14 and 15 year olds regularly drive large tractors in farmyards and pick up and deliver grain between fields and farmyards. We need to redouble our efforts in this regard and look at ways by which we can be more effective.
This is a problem across the European Union. Ireland's figures for fatalities are not that different from those in most other European countries.
What Deputy Harrington has referred to is essentially a device which, if one falls into the water, will immediately send a signal to the recuse services, which can dramatically reduce the likelihood of fatalities at sea. For some extraordinary reason, we have made huge progress in getting people to wear life jackets in the marine leisure sector, but little or no progress has been made in getting fishermen to wear them. We launched a life jacket campaign over the summer but I am not sure it made a huge difference because for some reason fishermen seem to think they will never fall in the water. I have considered the personal beacon approach used to good effect by the RNLI in the UK. Given the division of rescue functions between the Coast Guard and the RNLI, we cannot simply copy UK policy to Ireland because both organisations will need to be able to pick up signals from the beacon. We will investigate the matter further. As it is an area in which I have close personal experience, I am anxious to do the right thing.
