Mr. T.J. Flanagan:

I thank the Chairman.

I will be reasonably brief. ICOS is the umbrella body for agricultural co-operatives so we do not represent farmers per se. Rather, we represent the bodies where they come together to do business. Like most stakeholders, we have been particularly concerned about the level of on-farm deaths, particularly deaths and accidents in the dairy sector because we are more concerned with this sector as the co-operative business is more evolved there. Dairy farmers are probably three times more likely to suffer a serious farm accident or death on farm. We are particularly concerned in the context of expansion and future planned expansion in the dairy sector and on farms where farmers and their facilities will be particularly stretched over the coming years. Their management abilities, including their management of time, and the facilities they have in terms of machinery and slurry-handling facilities will be stretched. Nobody has an ideal set of facilities but if we are going to expand by 50% or 60% plus over the next number of years, they will be even more stretched, which is a particular worry for us.

We were approached by FBD Trust before Christmas to find out whether we could collaborate with it around improving communication of risks, particularly with dairy farmers. We welcomed the approach and have collaborated with it. One needs to be careful about how one communicates with farmers and gives them information. We all receive a lot of stuff in the post, particularly as we approach an election, and we need to be careful about how we communicate with people and the quality of information we give them. In collaboration with FBD Trust, we have developed a pack to circulate in the first instance to all 18,000 dairy farmers. This pack includes a number of DVDs, brochures on safety and health, including mental health, and some promotional stuff for farmers' children to get them thinking about their father or mother's safety on the farm. Our member co-operatives are circulating 18,000 packs to their dairy farmer members to get them a bit more focused. When they come in from their very busy day in the evening, they might browse through some of this information and it might strike home.

We have developed 250 signs that will go up in co-operative branches, which are trading retail outlets, and co-operative marts. The signs are big six foot by four foot aluminium signs with a safety message of "Champions for Change", a campaign developed by FBD Trust. The third aspect of the campaign we are running with FBD Trust and the co-operatives is a series of promotions in co-operative stores during Farm Safety Week, which I gather is in May. I think the promotion of farm safety equipment was mentioned earlier by one of the other speakers so it is planned that there will be increased merchandising of farm safety equipment highlighting the fact that it is Farm Safety Week.