Fatalities on farms ‘remain unacceptably high’ in 2020
THE SIGNIFICANT number of fatalities on Irish farms in 2020 as a result of workplace incidents has been highlighted by Minister
of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with Special Responsibility for Farm Safety Martin Heydon.
There were 19 fatal incidents on farms in 2020, with three of these being children under the age of 18, and nine being farmers aged 65 or more. This follows 25 fatalities in 2017, 15 in 2018 and 19 in 2019. Minister Heydon said: “The level of safety incidents, many of them fatal, we are seeing on farms across the country is unacceptably high.
“Farming accounts for nearly 50% of all workplace fatal incidents, despite accounting for only 6% of the workforce. That is why I am appealing to everyone, as they wish farmers a happy New Year, to also take the time to ask them to be safe on their farm in 2021,” he said
He went on: “2021 needs to be the year when farmers put their own safety first. “We cannot continue to see the level of fatalities we have seen in recent years. 214 people tragically lost their lives on farms between 2010 and 2019 and this is simply not acceptable.” Mr Heydon said as the first ever minister to be given specific responsibility for farm safety, he was working to ensure that safety was at the heart of everything done on farms and he was “determined to deliver lasting change that will drive down the current level of safety incidents”. “In recent months I have launched a number of initiatives that will hopefully help to deliver this change. “The new Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) scheme, which I brought forward together with Minister Donohoe, will make essential farm safety investments more accessible to farmers.
“Additionally, my new call for proposals under the Innovation Partnership (EIP) model, will fund a number of community-led farm safety projects that will hopefully deliver some new and innovative solutions.”
Mr Heydon said that 2021 would be an important year for farm safety with around 50,000 farmers set to receive vital safety training, and the revised HSA Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee and its new working groups are now in place. “I plan to build on the momentum of recent months by working closely with farmers to deliver the needed initiatives that can make a real difference to safety on our farms,” he said.