Farm Safety Inspection Campaign Begins
Friday 9th April
The Health and Safety Authority has today (Friday 9th April) announced that from Monday (12th April) it will begin a two week intensive inspection campaign of farms.
Inspectors from the Authority will be visiting up to 300 farms to check that farmers have measures in place to minimise the risks of accidents. The main cause of death and serious injury on farms are accidents involving tractors and machinery. Inspectors will be looking to see that all tractors and machinery are properly maintained and particularly that PTO shafts are properly guarded.
Other areas of concern are; open slurry pits, un-gated children’s play areas and livestock handling. Inspectors will be requesting that farmers have assessed risks and put measures in place to minimise those risks.
Pat Griffin Senior Inspector with the Health and Safety Authority says there are plenty of resources available to assist farmers in complying with health and safety regulations and reduce the possibility of accidents.
“The Farm Safety Code of Practice and the online risk assessment tool (www.farmsafely.com) are free resources available to farmers that will greatly assist in minimising the risk of death or serious injury on farms.”
Pat Griffin continued:
“The purpose of these Inspections is to make farms safer places to work and live for farmers and their families, I would encourage farmers to give some time each day to farm safety and to engage with our Inspectors and act on any advice given. This is about saving life and limb.”
To date, this year, there have been 9 deaths reported due to work activity on farms
