Farm safety
Farming is a great way of life and very rewarding, but by its nature, it is also a very hazardous occupation. The continuing trend in the rise of fatal accidents on farms is cause for great concern.
The 2005 Health, Safety and Welfare at work act requires you to make your farm a safer place for you, your family, employees and members of the public. It is important to take action now.
Helpful Tips:
- Complete a Farm Safety Risk Assessment Document and a Safety Statement and ensure everybody who works on your farm reads and understands it.
- Always ensure that the PTO and the PTO shaft are covered properly, and that you always disengage the PTO before you dismount the tractor.
- Only allow competent persons to drive tractors. Remember children must be at least 14 years old, have received adequate training and be under the supervision of a responsible adult before they are allowed drive a tractor. (They must be 16 years of age and hold at least a provisional driving licence before they can drive in a public place).
- Always handle animals with caution and use proper handling facilities.
- Ensure that all slurry tanks and lagoons are covered or fenced off safely.
- Make a safe play area for children and never allow young children unaccompanied on the farm.
- Always Think Safety First!
Prepared for you by:
Ciaran Roche
Farm Safety and Risk Management Surveyor
FBD
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The FBD National Farmyard Awards
It’s two years since the launch of the first FBD National Farmyard Awards which were organised and promoted through the Irish Farmers Journal and Irish Country Living.
At the time many Irish farmyards were undergoing massive redevelopment as part of the Farm Waste Management Scheme. These Awards were seen as a welcome development that would showcase the best kept farmyards in the country.
Right from the start the Awards attracted plenty of interest from farm families. The quality of entries surpassed our judge’s expectations and all the winners could justifiably be held up as role models of best practice. That best practise covered farmyard maintenance, design, landscaping and health and safety controls. What the entries proved was that farmers didn’t need to spend lots of money to have a tidy, well-kept farmyard. What they needed was attention to detail and a little imagination.
Winning and short listed entries have come from farms across every enterprise and from families who are both full and part-time farmers. The FBD National Farmyard Awards have a universal appeal.
This was reinforced by recent reader research commissioned by the Irish Farmers’ Journal from Dr Pat Bogue of Broadmore Research. Dr Bogue said farmers viewed the Farmyard Awards as ‘an excellent idea which promoted ‘pride in your place’. They also felt the Awards were applicable to all farmers no matter what enterprise, age or type of land.
What was not envisaged when these Awards were established was the passion shown by so many entrants for the family farms that are entrusted in their care - their passion to have a pleasant and safe environment in which to farm.
Writing in Irish Country Living prior to last year’s competition, Katherine O’Leary said: "When I think about our award winners last year I am still gratified by the overwhelming enthusiasm of participants. It was so lovely to meet father-and-son teams, husbands and wives, young and old coming together to show us around their farmyards with pride. This is the essence of these Awards."
The FBD National Farmyard Awards encourages farming families to look at what they have accomplished - often over many years – to get credit for it and by their example encourage others to do the same.
That’s what makes the FBD National Farmyard Awards special and is the ideal they successfully promote to the farming community right across the country.
Finally keep reading the Irish Farmers Journal and Irish Country Living to find out about this year’s competition
FBD 40,000 high visibility vest giveaway
In 2009 FBD was involved with both The Irish Farmers Journal and the Road Safety Authority in distributing 40,000 high visibility vests free at the National Ploughing Championships. The high visibility vests were a great success and highlighted the importance of being seen on the farm and on the road throughout the year. FBD Safety and Risk Management Surveyor, Ciaran Roche, said: "Sadly 40 people have already lost their lives on Irish roads this year and 15 of these were pedestrians. In the interest of safety FBD would encourage all pedestrian and cyclists wear bright reflective clothing when on the road during light-up hours so that they can be easily seen." Keep an eye out for the Irish Farmers Journal in the lead up to Ploughing 2010 – we hope to highlight farm and road safety once again and distribute another 40,000 high visibility vests.
Farm Safety Signs
FBD recognizes that too many people are killed and seriously injured in farm accidents every year and that an improvement in the attitude and behaviour of farmers towards health and safety is of paramount importance if we are to see a significant reduction in farm accidents. With this in mind, FBD and the Farm Safety Partnership (FSP) developed a "Farm Safety Sign" and FBD distributed 5000 of these signs to farmers in 2008. Due to the huge demand for the sign, FBD has produced an additional 10,000 signs and is distributing these signs through our local office network.
www.farmsafely.com
FBD Trust and the HSA have developed and launched an online version of the Code of Practice Risk Assessment document. The online version is user friendly, easy to complete and update and it also has many additional valuable features including, automatic completion of the mission control measures on your action list, further information, updated statistics and progress reports. You can also opt for quarterly email reminders that will tell you what action you have left to complete, an annual reminder advising you that your Risk Assessment Document needs to be updated and Safety Alert emails
Take action today and make your farm a safer environment for all.
Just go to www.farmsafely.com and complete your Risk Assessment Document and implement all the safety controls identified.