Question : To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps that are being taken to improve farm safety; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28670/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA), under the remit of my colleague Minister Richard Bruton, has primary responsibility for securing health and safety at work, particularly from an enforcement point of view. My Department 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 in relation to farm safety. The end of this year will see the culmination of the Farm Safety Action Plan 2009-2012 which has been the main focus of the Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee and the organisations involved over the past three years.

My Department is very strongly committed to promoting Farm Safety in collaboration with the HSA. We have taken a number of steps over the past year in tandem with some of the other State and industry organisations to both raise awareness of the problem and educate farmers and their families on the realities and the dangers of working in this industry.

The most recent measure taken by my Department was the inclusion of a Farm Safety message with the Single Payment application packs, which were distributed in March of this year to over 130,000 farmers. This was a joint initiative between my Department, the Health and Safety Authority and the Farm Safety Partnership Committee and led to every one of those farmers receiving an individual reminder of the importance of farming safely and the potentially fatal consequences of not doing so.

The HSA produced an excellent DVD earlier this year containing testimonials from 6 individual farmers who provide an emotional telling of their experiences on farm which led to either fatalities or serious injury. This DVD has been widely circulated is included in all training courses undertaken by my Department.

My colleague Minister of State McEntee will make the opening address at the National Farm Safety Conference next week, the 21th June, in Ballincollig, Co. Cork. I opened last year's Conference at Roscommon. The National Farm Safety Conference is one of the highlights of the Farm Safety calendar and my Department is fully committed to helping raise the profile of this Conference among farmers so that the farm safety message remains high on everyone's agenda.

Minister of State McEntee also recently launched the Farm and Countryside Safety project, which is located in the Family Farm at Dublin Zoo. The project is supported by Agri Aware in conjunction with FBD Insurance, the IFA and ESB Networks. This programme will help to educate children about farm safety, one of the groups most at risk on farms today. The project will culminate with the production of a 2013 calendar featuring selected images of safety messages drawn or painted by children. The calendar will be sent to all primary schools in the country.

Other actions by my Department include:

· The provision to all farms of a Code of Practice aimed at reducing farm accidents.

· The inclusion of Health and Safety Guidelines in all Building Specifications drawn up by my Department.

· The inclusion of Farm Safety in all REPS Training Courses.

· A dedicated area on our website outlining the requirements on Farm Safety and practical advice on Safety on Farms.

· My Department has asked Teagasc to include a farm safety element in the Dairy Discussion Groups participating in the Dairy Efficiency Programme 2010-2012.

· Regular Press Statements drawing attention to Farm Safety agenda.

There is no single action or organisation that can solve this difficult problem that impacts so horrendously, on so many lives, each year. Already this year, 7 people have lost their lives in farming accidents and a further 5 people have died in the fisheries area. This follows on two terrible years for farm safety in which 26 and 27 people died in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Since taking office, I have continuously strived to increase awareness of safety issues among farmers which I believe is the key to changing the way we all think about farm safety on Irish farms. We must all work together with the single goal of preventing farm accidents and therefore saving lives and minimising serious injuries.