Seanad debates

Thursday, 11 July 2013

5:20 pm

Photo of Lorraine HigginsLorraine Higgins (Labour)
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I believe the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Tom Hayes, is in the House to take the matter on the Adjournment, not my constituency colleague.

Photo of Paddy BurkePaddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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Does the Senator welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes?

Photo of Lorraine HigginsLorraine Higgins (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on his recent appointment to the post. There is no doubt he will be a great asset to the Department given his vast experience in farming and politics. I commend the Minister, Deputy Coveney, on his work on the recent Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, negotiations and the great results he secured for the country in his endeavours. Not only has he shown leadership but he is also protecting Irish farmers and their livelihoods, and that deserves to be commended.

The matter I raise on the Adjournment this evening is one most would agree is a serious and pressing issue for the farming community in this country. It deserves to be highlighted. Not alone that, but there is a need for a plan to be put in place in order that an ongoing campaign focused on farm safety would continue throughout the next few months. According to Teagasc’s safety survey findings, this country has one of the highest incidences of farm accidents in Europe. It is more than twice the European average. Farm deaths accounted for 45% of all workplace deaths in 2012.

By the Health and Safety Authority’s own estimate, during the period 2000 to 2010, 30% of child deaths on farms were caused by drowning in slurry pits. During the same period, 8% of deaths of elderly farmers over the age of 65 were caused in similar circumstances. The risks associated with slurry pits have regrettably been highlighted by the tragic deaths of the members of the Spence family last year, which we all remember.

Slurry pits represent a wide and varied danger to the safety of farmers, their families and livestock. The possible causes of harm range from drowning to suffocation from poisonous gases. As the Minister of State is well aware, a high level of gases can be released when slurry is agitated and one breath or a lungful can cause instant death but can, equally, be highly dangerous for people within close proximity if noxious fumes are allowed to linger and are not diluted by a strong wind. The reliance on wind and other factors for safety is an archaic discipline and not particularly suitable to modern day farming practices. We need ideas to address this silent killer. It is imperative that the Ministers in the Department would direct the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to summon the necessary chemical experts before it reports on the potential for development of a chemical that might go some way towards breaking up the slurry and relieving the farmer and his family from having to engage in this highly dangerous agitation process.

I welcome the Health and Safety Authority’s educational programmes, especially for children, on farm safety, as it appears that the farm competition for primary schools is having a positive impact on children by raising awareness of the danger that exists on site. However, I would like to hear what the Department is doing to further improve safety standards for farmers and whether it provides support to farmers for ongoing safety training. We must remember that farms are family homes as well as workplaces, so it is incumbent on the Department to ensure each and every farmer in the country realises that safe farming is about protecting themselves, their families and businesses.

Photo of Tom HayesTom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Higgins for giving me the opportunity to come to the House to clarify the Department's position on the issue raised. I also thank her for her good wishes to me.

We all agree that the tragic deaths of three members of the Spence family shocked the entire community and every effort must be made to avoid a repetition of such a dreadful accident. My Department has been in contact with colleagues in the Health and Safety Authority to understand the circumstances behind the dreadful events of that day last September. I am fully committed to the need to increase farmers' awareness of health and safety and to the need to influence the behaviour of farmers to act on this knowledge.

It is a fact that farming is the most dangerous occupation in the country with more people killed on farms than all other workplaces combined. To a large degree the nature of a farm is at the core of the problem. A farm is, to a great extent, seen first and foremost as a family home. This means it is seen as a place of security and welcome for family, friends, neighbours and visitors. However, a farmyard is a very dangerous place of work with large modern machinery and other dangers such as animals and extensive slurry storage areas. The difficulty is to marry the family home part of the farm with the very dangerous farmyard and other dangerous areas of the extended farm. Last year, 21 fatal accidents were reported on farms, while so far this year there have thankfully been just two, but still two too many. I sincerely hope that this is the start of a positive trend and not just a short-term reduction, as we have seen previously.

The Health and Safety Authority, HSA, under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, has primary responsibility for health and safety in the workplace. The HSA is also the enforcement agency for workplace safety. It carried out 3,000 inspections in the agriculture sector in 2012 and plans to continue with a high level of engagement during 2013. These visits are aimed at advising and educating farmers on the dangers that are ever present in the farm environment.

The Health and Safety Authority is carrying out a farm safety survey, which aims to identify the behaviours farmers engage in while working and the underlying factors influencing them, with a view to making recommendations concerning how best to make farms safer places in which to work and live. The survey questionnaires are being posted to more than 3,000, randomly selected, farm households beginning this week. The survey has been designed by agricultural sector experts and further shaped by interviews with farmers at a number of marts around the country earlier this year.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is represented on the farm safety partnership advisory committee, which is a sub-committee of the Health and Safety Authority. The committee advises the board on the direction the HSA should take on farm safety. The farm safety action plan 2013-2015 follows on from the previous farm safety action plan 2009-2012 and it has been developed in conjunction with the farm safety partnership advisory committee.

I fully support all the measures that are being taken to raise awareness of this serious problem. For the second year running, my Department included a farm safety message with the single payment application packs that were sent to more than 130,000 farmers in March. The leaflet this year focused in particular on the dangers of slurry gases and the safe procedures for handling slurry. That was a joint initiative between the Department, the Health and Safety Authority and the farm safety partnership committee.

It is only one example of co-operation between various agencies to remind farmers of the importance of following safe farm practices and the potentially fatal consequences for them, their families and other farm visitors of lowering their guard.

In November last year, my Department, in conjunction with Teagsac, published a two-page article in the Irish Farmers Journalon how to inspect cattle slats on top of slurry tanks in a safe manner. The article highlighted the importance of regular monitoring of the condition of cattle slats and the safe procedures for entering a slurry tank to undertake such an inspection.

My Department has detailed specifications for the design and construction of all types of slurry stores and these are the minimum standards to which such stores must be constructed. Not only do the specifications deal with the minimum construction standards but they detail the required safety procedures for the construction and safe operation of these stores. The first section of the specifications is about safety. All the specifications are freely available on my Department's website to anyone who is undertaking work on the construction of a slurry store. These specifications are kept under continual review and any developments in safety or construction techniques are incorporated.

Senator Higgins may be aware of the advertisements on television, radio and in the press featuring farmers who have been seriously injured in accidents. They gave an account of their experiences and showed their injuries at first hand. The Health and Safety Authority, which produced the advertisements, has also incorporated the six testimonials in a thought-provoking DVD which is now being used in all training undertaken by the Department. A copy is available to download from the HSA website. This DVD was shown on screens in marts throughout the country in the past year.

There is no one solution to this problem. I am confident all relevant agencies will work with the HSA and the farming representative organisations to continue to tackle the issue.

This is a good time to be a farmer. We are keen to do everything we can to get individual farmers to take care of their safety, their family's safety and the safety of all others on farms, including visitors. If anyone has any ideas I am sure Department officials and staff in Teagasc would be only too willing to accept any simple ideas that could help what is a major problem for the Department and others involved, especially when it comes to the bad news hitting a community or family.

5:30 pm

Photo of Lorraine HigginsLorraine Higgins (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I welcome in particular the work of the Health and Safety Authority, including the survey carried out, as well as the steps taken by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine relating to farm safety. I welcome the comments of the Minister of State to the effect that he would welcome suggestions. Earlier, I referred to looking at other ways of carrying out the agitation process. As a farmer, the Minister of State will be aware that this is a dangerous time for any farmer or his family to be within close proximity during the process. I said earlier that relying on wind as a means of diluting the effects of the noxious fumes is unsatisfactory in this day and age. On that basis, I reckon the Minister of State could refer the matter to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It could then discuss the matter and invite experts with a chemical background to examine ways of relieving and addressing the problem.

Photo of Tom HayesTom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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If the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine would be so good as to take it on board and invite in the experts, I would certainly welcome it. It should be done. As I stated earlier, any way to save a life is welcome and agitating slurry is extremely dangerous. Signage should be looked at and warning systems should be put up around slatted sheds. I take on board the points made by Senator Higgins. I can correspond with the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to take that on board.

Photo of Lorraine HigginsLorraine Higgins (Labour)
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I wrote to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on this matter last year and the committee members will be aware of my correspondence in this regard. If the Minister of State could chase it up, I would appreciate it.

Photo of Tom HayesTom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I will do so.