Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I believe we will have at least as many inspections in 2017, given that the embargo has been lifted. It is important to point out that we are doing things a little differently from before, with changes to the inspection activities, which is very important in the farming sector. The authority is very proactive in regard to inspections. The overall planned number of inspections for 2017 will be retained at the 2016 figure.

The way that health and safety issues are considered has changed in recent times, particularly in the farming sector. We are working with the farming organisations as it is very important to collaborate and work together with them. That is the reason I have taken on board the link with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine so that we ensure we can bring down the number of farm accidents. I have attended a number of farm inspections where both Teagasc and the HSA invite all the farmers in the area to a farm. That has excelled and won awards for health and safety. The farmers come to farm and there is an inspection to see where the risks arise, whether for children or for farmers around machinery - there are many accidents around machinery - slurry pits and so on. Members may recall the tragic fatalities in Northern Ireland a few years ago, when three members of the one family were killed in an accident around a slurry pit. A real campaign was focused on slurry pits and as a result the number of fatalities caused by slurry pits decreased. An increase in the numbers falling through the roof of farm buildings is very worrying as well. There will be a focus on all those areas, especially on the high number of 21 deaths last year. People will be aware of the high number of deaths this year on farms. Accidents happen when farmers who are very familiar with the environment do not take five minutes out to see where the dangers are because they have become over-familiar with their environment.

I hope the HSA in conjunction with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation will pay serious attention to accidents at work. This is something I am very conscious of and this morning in conjunction with the Department of Health I launched a well-being programme. Last week we launched another programme as well. It is not just all about accidents, because stress, anxiety and related issues are creating problems in the workplace. We are looking at this issue and this is the reason we have put in place a number of online apps to deal with these issues. The statistics for the workplace outside of farms show that more days were lost in the workplace last year through stress, anxiety and other issues related to depression than through workplace accidents. We have to focus on that as well and we are doing something about it.

The way the Department and the HSA are looking at these issues is changing all the time to meet the demands and needs of places where accidents occur and to ensure farmers are educated about them. Members may know that the allocation of certain farm grants may only proceed if the farmer does a farming course.