Macra urges members to make farm safety a way of life

This week marks the eleventh annual farm safety week. This campaign is aimed at raising awareness and changing attitudes to prevent life changing injuries and fatalities on farm.

The key theme this year is ‘make farm safety a way of life’, and Macra is encouraging all members to ‘take five to stay alive’ by assessing safety measures on farm and taking the appropriate precautions.

Elaine Houlihan, Macra National President reiterates this message stating that “farm safety week serves as a reminder to pause and review your own farm safety. Although farm safety is a part of day-to-day farming, this week we want to bring it to the forefront of our members minds.”

On June 21st , Ms. Houlihan attended Minister Martin Heydon’s launch of the National Farm Safety Measures 2023. This measure, which was introduced to incentivise the purchase and use of farm safety equipment offers a 60% grant towards a maximum of two quad helmets and four PTO shaft covers, at a maximum eligible cost of €100 and €150 per PTO shaft cover and quad helmet respectively.

Ms. Houlihan shares that she “encourages all members to avail of the grant opportunity available. These measures will help to keep our farming families safe. We only know about the farm accidents which are being reported, the many near misses are never being reported.

I hope that these new measures being introduced help to reduce the incidences of farm fatalities and injuries.”

According to the Health and Safety Authority, vehicles and machinery are the main cause of farm accidents in Ireland. In the past 10 years alone, they have accounted for approximately 50% of all farm deaths.

In response to these harrowing statistics, Macra is again encouraging all its members to ‘take five to stay alive’ by taking a five-minute pause, thinking about the task ahead of them and ensuring that safety precautions are in place before beginning.

Ms. Houlihan would also like to remind members that “ensuring farm safety statements are reviewed and up to date is another way to ensure farm safety. There are grants and programmes available, such as the National Farm Safety Measure 2023, to ensure farmers have access to the necessary safety equipment.

We need to make sure that everyone is availing of these aids to increase safety on farm. We do not want to lose anyone to a preventable farming accident. We all want to come home at the end of the day.”