Putting Safety in the Driving Seat for Day 2 of Farm Safety Week
Tuesday of Farm Safety Week focuses on Machinery & Transport. Poorly used or faulty vehicles and machinery are a major cause of death and injury on farms.
Farmers come into contact with a host of machinery daily – combines, choppers and hay balers which bring their own attendant dangers. Hands, hair and clothing can be caught by unguarded PTO shafts or other unguarded moving parts such as pulleys and belts. People can be injured by front-end loaders, falling from a moving tractor or being struck by its wheels.
According to IFA President, Joe Healy, “Machinery and transport continue to be the main causes of life-changing and life-ending injuries on farms. In fact of the 21 farm workers who lost their lives in agriculture in 2016, 12 were workplace machinery-transport related.
“The fact of the matter is that one death is one too many. Farm Safety Week is in its fifth year of existence, farm safety training is improving across the country and the Farm Safety Partnership is continuing to communicate directly with farmers across the country. We all agree that farming is an industry that has decided that enough is enough and changes need to happen.”
Joe Healy added: “Everybody in farming knows somebody who has been injured or killed in an accident. Reminding farmers that farm safety is a lifestyle, not a slogan seems like the right thing to do this week, given the culture of risk raking in the industry. One day your luck could run out. One day it could be you.
“Unfortunately, as we have seen very recently, agricultural machinery may be advancing with safety features but it is still dangerous so please take a minute to use the SAFE STOP approach – ensure tractors, telehandlers and associated equipment is switched off when doing routine tasks or making routine checks and maintenance and take your time to think about what you are doing and what might go wrong as making a few simple checks could actually save a life – maybe your own!”
For more information on Farm Safety Week UK & Ireland visit ifalegacystagi.wpengine.com/farm-safety or follow @IFAmedia or #FarmSafetyWeek on Twitter
