Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has plans to launch an updated initiative to improve safety practices on farms and to reduce the number of farm deaths and injuries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19635/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I am very concerned with the level of farm safety on our farms. Last year 11 people died on Irish farms. While this was a decline of almost 40% on 2006, it is still unacceptably high. This year to-date 6 people have died on Irish farms. I strongly support the work of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), which is the national body in Ireland with responsibility for securing health and safety at work.

The Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee to the HSA was set up in 2002. This Committee is made up of representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Teagasc, HSA and other farming groups and supports and co-ordinates the majority of research and promotional activities in relation to farm safety. This Committee put a Farm Safety Plan in place in 2003. The outcome of this Farm Safety Plan, which ran for 5 years, was a 28% reduction in farm fatalities, 31% reduction in farm accidents and a reduction in child fatalities from 6 per annum to 2 per annum. A new Farm Safety Plan is now being developed by the Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee. My Department will fully support this new 5 year Plan with the aim of reducing farm fatalities and injuries even further.

Teagasc and the HSA launched a joint initiative in 2005 to reduce the number of farm accidents on Irish farms. This three-year initiative aimed to ensure that farmers with three or less employees completed and implemented a Farm Risk Assessment and involved a series of half-day health and safety training courses. During 2006 and 2007, up to 6,500 farmers attended these farm health and safety half-day training courses and up to 400 Teagasc advisors received farm health and safety briefings. Teagasc aim to provide health and safety training to approximately 8,000 farmers in 2008. As this is the last year of the initiative, Teagasc and the Health and Safety Authority are in discussions regarding renewal of the initiative.

My Department in conjunction with the Department for Labour Affairs circulated some 160,000 copies of A Code of Practice for the Prevention of Accidents and Occupational Ill Health in Agriculture in November/December 2006. Analysis of the 2007 Teagasc National Farm Survey shows that 42.5% of farmers have completed the Risk Assessment Document. The All Island Farm Safety Conference, to be held on the 18th June in Monaghan, is being organised by the HSA and the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland. It will focus on safety issues on farms such as the elderly, livestock and occupational health issues in farming.