Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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238. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount allocated by the Health and Safety Authority for farm safety initiatives in 2016 and 2017; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26378/17]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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239. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount spent by the Health and Safety Authority on farm safety initiatives; the number of inspections in each of the years 2010 to 2016 and to date in 2017, in tabular form; her views on the increasing number of farm fatalities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26379/17]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 238 and 239 together.

Following is a table showing the past expenditure for the years 2010 to 2016 and estimated total expenditure for 2017 on farm safety initiatives by the HSA.

Table of Expenditure on Farm Safety Initiatives 2011 to 2017

*Note - that annual figures for expenditure include some cross sectoral initiatives where the expenditure would also be relevant to other sectors – it is not possible to extract this so it has been included as the full figure. In addition, some of the advertising initiatives would cross years, so the yearly figure is an estimate of the expenditure relevant to that year

** Note- the expenditure figure for farm safety initiatives in 2010 is recorded on a now disused database system and the retrieval will take some time. The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation will revert to the Deputy when this figure is available.

Below is a table showing the breakdown of the annual farm inspection numbers carried out by the HSA from 2010 to date in 2017.

Farm inspections and investigations 2011 – 2016

The Health and Safety Authority allocated a budget of €384,000 for farm safety initiatives in 2016. These initiatives  included the organisation of, participation in, or support for a number of agriculture related events such as the FTMTA Grass and Much Event, Farmer of the Year Awards, Farm Safety Fortnight, Teagasc Beef 2016, the Tullamore Show, the National Ploughing Championships and some other minor events some with supporting media campaigns.

In 2017 the Health and Safety Authority has allocated a budget of €287,000 for farm safety initiatives. These initiatives will again involve the organisation of, participation in, or support of a wide range of agriculture related events such as the FTMTAMachinery Show, Assisting in KTGFacilitator Training, Farmer of the Year Awards, Farm Safety Months, (March/Livestock, May/Tractors& Machinery, November/Falls from Height & Falling Objects) , Teagasc Dairy Event, the Tullamore Show, the National Ploughing Championships and again some other minor events all with media coverage or campaigns.

The funding allocations that the HSA makes for particular aspects of its annual programme of work, including farm safety initiatives, can fluctuate from year to year as the HSA decides how to prioritise its non-pay funding in order to implement its overall programme of work.

The totality of the work of the HSA in relation to farm safety is not confined to specific farm safety initiatives or formal inspections. In addition to such initiatives visits to farms by inspectors include routine unannounced inspections to monitor compliance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005 and with other health and safety regulations and to investigate fatal and serious farm accidents. Typically in any one year there can be between 60 – 90 investigations on farms with the rest being unannounced inspections. In 2017 the HSA is carrying out three focused farm campaigns each of one month duration. The first focused on “animal handling”, the second on working with “machinery” and the third on “working from heights”.

Since 2014 the HSA has redirected some of its inspection resources to engaging directly with farmers on other accident prevention initiatives.  This approach continues in 2017 particularly through the Knowledge Transfer Groups of which 42 have been attended so far this year and all facilitators of knowledge transfer groups have now been trained in occupational health and safety by Teagasc and the HSA.

The priority tasks for the HSA in relation to engagement with the farming sector for 2017 include:

- ongoing delivery of the Farm Safety Partnership Action Plan, 2016 to 2018;

- continuing awareness campaigns through the media, events and advertising targeted at agricultural sector;

- promotion of good health for farmers;

- publication of information sheets;

- roll out of the revised Code of Practice on farm safety;

- finalising an e-learning tool on tractor and machinery safety,

- focusing on child safety on farms through programmes at primary and post-primary school level, letters have already issued to over 3,000 such schools;

- increasing awareness of farm safety throughout the sector.

I, of course, remain very concerned at the ongoing high level of farm fatalities. Since the start of this year there have been 12 people killed on farms, with 8 deaths of farmers over 70 years of age. Indeed myself and my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, invited leading stakeholders involved in the agriculture sector, including representatives from four (4) major farming organisations (IFA, ICMSA, Macra na Feirme and ICSA) to a round table meeting on farm safety. The meeting facilitated a full and frank discussion on practical targeted actions that could be taken at a number of levels. I have asked all participants to formally submit their suggestions and proposals on actions that can be taken at Government and sectoral level and all will be given detailed consideration.

Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association

Knowledge Transfer Group