Council joins initiative to improve farm safety

Council joins initiative to improve farm safety

14 November 2012

DOWN Council staff are to work alongside the Health and Safety Executive in a new initiative aimed at reducing farm deaths.

Over the next five months officials from both organisations will be visiting farms across the district to highlight the need to make farm safety a priority and encourage farmers to do all they can to reduce the number of deaths.

Twenty four people have died in just over 20 months in farms across Northern Ireland, including three members of the Spence family who lost their lives in a slurry tank accident at their farm outside Hillsborough in September.

Since April 2007, 42 people in Northern Ireland have been killed as a direct result of agricultural activities, with many more having been seriously injured or made ill by work.

Confirmation Down Council staff will accompany Health and Safety Executive officials on visits to farms across the district came at last week’s meeting of the local authority’s Environment Committee.

Councillor Robert Burgess, who is a farmer, said many people had lost their lives on farms, with a number of deaths due to what he described as “freak accidents.”

He said there were dangers associated with farming and appealed to farmers to always put safety first.

He continued: “Increasingly, farmers are being pushed to the limit; they are working night and day, for little reward in many cases. Farmers are starting to take chances as a result of the pressure they are under and that is wrong. They must put safety first at all times.”

Welcoming the farm safety initiative, he said farm safety visits along with one-to-one advice are “vital tools in helping to limit the devastation caused by accidents.”

Councillor William Dick, who is also a farmer, said a lot of farmers worked on their own and that the new initiative is designed to provide farmers with safety advice.

“Farmers need to get it out of their head that accidents won’t happen to them. They could and they must exercise caution while going about their daily duties. The reality is that accidents can happen on any farm. People need to be extremely careful.”

Committee chairman, Councillor Eamonn O’Neill, said the new initiative was welcome, given the number of people who had already lost their lives.

“There has been an unbelievable increase in the number of farm deaths over the past few years,” he said. While the new safety initiative is welcome, there needs to be more resources made available to provide more advice to help make farms safe. Farming is a dangerous and hazardous occupation.