Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 1 May 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Role and Operation of the Health and Safety Authority: Discussion

9:30 am

Mr. Conor O'Brien:

I can give some information on that. Dr. Duff might like to come in if I miss anything. In 2014 there were 32 people killed on the farms and last year it was 16. Over the last ten years, there have been 191 fatalities on farms. Over half of those were people more than 65 years old. People who are 65 and older are three times more likely to have a work-related accident. Regarding the causes of those accidents, close to half of them involved vehicles; 20% involved livestock and interacting with animals, particularly at calving time; and 13% involved falling from a height such as working on the roof of a barn and falling through the roof. Over the last ten years, ten people have been killed in quad bike accidents. Most unfortunately, in that ten-year period, 17 fatalities have involved people under the age of 17 which is an absolute tragedy. That gives a broad idea.