This article is from page 36 of the 2012-01-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
CLARE farmers have been urged to stay vigilant and safe in the weeks ahead as improving weather will bring more dangers on local farms. With animals set to return to the land and farmers anxious to take advantage of any breaks in the weather, the next two months promise to be very busy on the county’s farms.
A farm safety seminar for the Clare area will take place later today, January 17, at the Greenhills Hotel in Limerick and all Clare farmers have been urged to attend.
The meeting, which was organised by IOSH Western District, will begin at 7pm and will address all major farm safety issues.
There was good news for Clare farmers last week as new figures showed that no on-farm deaths had taken place in Clare in 2011.
This is in stark contrast to the previous year, unfortunately, when the Banner County recorded the third highest number of farm fatalities in Ireland.
This positive trend was not recorded all over the county in 2011, as farming was named as the most dangerous profession for the third year in a row.
“Figures show that over half of all workplace fatalities happen in the agriculture sector and the number of deaths have been pretty high the last number of years when compared to other countries,”said Clare TD Joe Carey (FG).
“The main areas of concern are livestock- and tractor- and machinery-related incidents. Many farmers I know are very conscious of the dangers of their work environment, yet we need to change the way we think about safety on Irish farms. I know the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, is working closely with the Health Safety Authority in promoting farm safety initiatives.
“In particular, I want to draw attention to the dedicated farm safety area on the Department of Agriculture’s website home page. It should also be acknowledged that Teagasc has been very active in providing farm safety training to farmers and farm advisers nationwide.
“We need to get the number of deaths and accidents on farms down and it is not acceptable that half of all workplace fatalities should occur on farms. I would encourage all farmers to take the time to visit the Department of Agriculture website.”
The IOSH Western District Farm Safety Seminar is open to all farmers and will take place in the Greenhills Hotel in Limerick this evening, January 17, from 7pm.