Farm safety is a top priority for IFA

IFA takes a proactive role in promoting safe work practices and encouraging farmers to maintain the highest safety standards on their farms. Making farms a safer place to work and live is one of the core aims of the Farm Family Committee, strongly supported across the organisation.

Awareness and education programmes, together with supports to improve safety standards on farms, are the most effective way to reduce farm accidents. The IFA works with and supports farm families to improve safety on farms throughout the year and undertakes a number of initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of farm safety, including regular messages in IFA publications, text messages to members, farm safety updates at IFA meetings, and targeted advice, resources and events. Planning ahead

The Farm Family Committee is currently planning ahead for our annual Farm Safety Awareness Day on July 21st and will this year too will take a lead in the development and promotion of a joint Ireland and UK Farm Safety Week from 4- 6 July.

In addition, under the new Farm Safety Action 2016 – 2018, developed by the Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee, of which IFA is a member we have responsibility for developing programmes to reduce accidents and injuries to children and older farmers in the sector. Policy priorities

Farming is a high-risk occupation, but accidents and injuries can be prevented - the challenge is to achieve sustained behavioural change.

Research shows that the more effective way to change behaviour is to engage with farmers, and support them to enhance their level of personal responsibility through targeted information and education campaigns that are cognisant of the realities faced by farmers and their families. Farm safety research has shown that a high percentage of Irish farm accidents are PTO-related. IFA proposes that the Government introduce a PTO scrappage scheme to support farmers to replace old PTO shafts with new safer models.

IFA has also proposed the inclusion of an Occupational Health and Safety exam module in third level agriculture courses. Mind your mental health

Stress caused by financial worries, long working hours, weather conditions, price uncertainty, high input costs, increased regulations and other factors can increase the risks of ill health and accidents on farms. IFA has been working with Pieta House since 2011 to provide information and support to farmers and their families through the ‘Mind Our Farm Families’ phone line and counselling service. The phone line puts farmers who are feeling suicidal or their families in direct contact with a Pieta House trained therapist who can listen and will make an appointment in one of their nine centres, if needed. The therapist will provide a compassionate, solution focussed, one-to-one counselling service completely free of charge.

The Mind Our Farm Families phone line 1890 130 022 is accessible Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm. To find out more about IFA’s Farm Safety Campaigns, visit www.ifa.ie/farm-safety