Minister Kelleher - Cork Farming Sector looking better

Increased resources and a strong focus and commitment by the Health and Safety Authority appears to delivering dividends to the Cork farming community so said Minister for Labour Affairs, Billy Kelleher when he opened the National Seminar on Occupational Safety and Health in Agriculture in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois.

Minister Kelleher said “Agricultural plays an important integral part in the economic and rural life of this country.  Unfortunately the Agriculture sector has a safety and ill health record disproportionate to its size with one of the highest workplace fatality rates of any sector in the Irish economy. In all, about one third of workplace deaths take place on farms despite the fact that only around one seventeenth of the total workforce are employed in the sector.

“Last year 8 of the 10 workplace deaths in Cork were in the Agricultural sector and so far this year the 1 workplace death was also in this sector. This one death is one too many, however these figures show a positive trend and clearly indicate that safety on farms in Cork is improving”.

“I believe this trend owes much to the introduction of the new Code of Practice for the Prevention of Accidents and Occupational Ill Health in Agriculture, which was launched last September and distributed to more than 160,000 farmers as part of a €1.5million campaign. This Code is the result of a joint initiative between the Health and Safety Authority and the Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee to the Health and Safety Authority.

“This new Code is the key element behind the national drive to improve farm safety, reduce accidents and save lives. It was written by farmers for farmers and should not pose major issues either in terms of interpretation or implementation.

“Most accidents are preventable; most involve simple incidents which could have been avoided if there was more thought given to safety and an inherent aversion to risk taking among people. The consequence of ignoring or paying little attention to safety is that the human and economic costs are high - apart from the pain, suffering and tragedy, the economic loss can jeopardise the livelihood of a farm family.

“We need to change the attitude to safety and I acknowledge that a lot has been done in recent years with partnership approaches across sectors like agriculture and construction. In agriculture, the partnership has been a key feature of the work with the Farm Safety Partnership and the collaborative efforts of Teagasc and the Health and Safety Authority helping to promote the safety message.

However, the primary responsibility for safety on the farm rests personally with each and every farmer and it is ultimately only at farm level that the actions can be taken which will avoid injuries and deaths in the future”, concluded Minister Kelleher

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