Address by Mr. Tom Kitt, T.D.,Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairsat the Launch of the Teagasc Campaign to Improve Farm SafetyTeagasc Offices, Malahide Road, DublinWednesday 6th June, 2001

I would like to thank Teagasc for inviting me here to launch their Farm Safety Campaign and for giving me the opportunity to once again to emphasise the need for ongoing and improved farm safety. The agriculture and forestry sector has the second highest rate of fatal accidents and the third highest rate of non-fatal accidents. The harsh reality is that 16 people died in the agriculture sector last year and more than 2000 were injured. Behind these statistics is an enormous amount of tragedy, suffering and disability amongst the farming community and this should motivate everyone involved in the sector to redouble their efforts in order to improve the safety record of the sector.

Particular attention needs to be paid to the high-risk areas of machinery operation, livestock handling and preventing trips and falls as these cause the majority of accidents each year. I am conscious, that with the gradual easing of Foot and Mouth restrictions, there is likely to be a significant increase in levels of activity and this increased activity will pose its own problems. The current silage-making season is, in particular, a potentially very dangerous time on farms, and I would appeal to farmers, even farmers of long experience, to be aware of the dangers associated with this activity and take the necessary precautions.

This launch is also timely for another reason. This week sees the beginning of the school holidays, and many children of farming backgrounds are trading the playground for the countryside as they look forward to a long summer on the farm. Unlike any other work sector, in farming there is a particular and often fatal risk posed to children, especially from their proximity to machinery such as tractors, and this requires extra vigilance. Farming is often a family-run business with the farm containing the family home, but it is still a high-risk place of work and must always be treated as such.

Both I, and the Health and Safety Authority, which is the State body responsible for the day-to-day enforcement of workplace health and safety legislation, are very anxious to see a genuine improvement in this sector. The Authority aims to increase awareness of health and safety issues and to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements through inspection, enforcement, advice and assistance.

The Authority’s programme in the agriculture sector aims to reduce the toll on individuals, and the farming community from preventable workplace injuries. This high-risk sector has once again been prioritised in the Programme of Work.

Last year was an extremely successful year in raising the level of awareness of farm safety issues, but I know the Authority is keen to build on this increased awareness level and move key audiences from awareness to action. The promotional campaign which is currently being developed by the Health and Safety Authority is very much an action-based one with a range of activities which inform the public not only of the major farm safety issues, but also of the practical actions that they can and should take to create a safer working environment in this sector. The Code of Practice on Child Safety is just one of the measures which will help to achieve this aim and I look forward to seeing it published and promoted in the coming weeks.

Organisations like Teagasc work very much in tandem with the Authority and such co-operation and complementary activities are vital to getting the health and safety message down to farm level. I am also aware that Teagasc, through its representative Mr. Frank Laffey, is an active participant on the National Agricultural Task Force, which operates under the auspices of the Health and Safety Authority, and I thank you for your involvement and contribution.

This Teagasc Safety Campaign has as its theme "Think Safety and Take Action". This is a valid and relevant theme and particularly timely in a year in which Accident Prevention has been identified as the theme of a major safety campaign recently announced by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

Prevention remains a key element in tackling workplace accidents and fatalities. Before undertaking any job around the farm it is essential that farmers identify what could cause an accident and then put in place the necessary safety measures before attempting these jobs. One of the main benefits of such an exercise is that it helps to develop an awareness of the many dangers which can exist on the farm. I know that Authority will shortly be publishing a valuable tool for this purpose - the Guidelines on Preparing a Safety Statements for Farms - and I would urge all farmers, who have not done so, to draw up a Safety Statement and, where such statements exist, to keep them under regular review.

The Health and Safety Authority has a wide range of information material available to anyone seeking advice and the Authority also works closely with all of the major farming organisations, such as Teagasc. I would encourage all farmers to seek information from either of these sources on how best they can improve their work practices and so protect their own lives, the lives of their families, and in the long term protect their very livelihood and that of their future generations.

In human terms the costs of farm accidents are, of course, enormous. Farming is so much more than a job or an occupation, it is a unique way of life and can offer children very special childhood experiences. But by virtue of it being a way of life, the inherent dangers which it carries with it can often be underestimated and it is in this regard that adults and children alike can be put at risk.

Once again I want to thank Teagasc for this Safety Campaign and I sincerely hope that the summer of 2001 will prove to be a safe one.