The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) has said that this year’s statistics on farm deaths and accidents are “likely to show no drastic improvement”.
The executive, which is a member of the Farm Safety Partnership (FSP), said this means that actions and attitudes of those working in the industry need a major rethink.
The comments come as the 12th annual Farm Safety Week in Northern Ireland begins today (Monday, July 22).
HSENI
HSENI said that it has offered its full support to the Farm Safety Foundation (FSF) in its efforts to “reset the way farmers approach farm safety and risk-taking”.
Speaking at the launch of Farm Safety Week, Robert Kidd, chief executive of HSENI, said that farming is an integral part of the economy and the community here in Northern Ireland.
“However, it has again proved to have the poorest safety record of any industry in Northern Ireland.
“This is unacceptable, and it is very important that we continue to work with our farm safety partners to try and improve safety standards,” he said.
“Attitudes and behaviours around farm safety and mental health are changing but the pace of change is slow –too slow for the families of those we have lost in the industry and too slow for the thousands of farmers suffering every day with long term ill-health, serious injuries, or poor mental health.
“We want to see an end to lives lost and farm families left in pieces due to a needless farm accident,” Kidd added.
Farm safety
The Farm Safety Foundation has outlined the following objectives for this year:
- To drive improvements in the health and wellbeing of those living and working in the sector;
- To encourage those living and working in farming to take concrete actions to improve their attitudes to farming safely in the UK and Ireland;
- To highlight, not only the excessive numbers suffering fatal injuries and accidents on UK and Ireland farms but the dangers of ignoring near misses at work;
- To signpost farmers and farm workers to the resources available to help improve farm safety;
- To shine a light on farm safety heroes who are working to drive a positive change in the industry.
The Farm Safety Partnership also comprises the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), NFU Mutual (NFUM), the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) the Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association (NIAPA) and Rural Support.
It is tasked with assisting Northern Ireland’s farming community to work safely and tackle the problem of work-related fatalities and injuries on farms.
