Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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124. 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 2016, 2017 and to date in 2018; the number of fatalities on farms in this period annually; the percentage of farm fatalities out of total workplace fatalities recorded by the HSA as a percentage in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46455/18]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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125. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount of funds allocated by the Health and Safety Authority for farm safety initiatives in 2016, 2017 and 2018; the amount expended in each such year; the amount allocated in Budget 2019 for farm safety initiatives; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46456/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together.

The amount allocated by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) for farm safety initiatives in the years 2016 to 2018 and the anticipated expenditure for 2018 and the number of farm inspections and investigations 2016 - 2018 are set out in the attached appendix.

While the HSA was originally allocated a budget of €384,000 for farm safety initiatives in 2017, the actual expenditure was higher at €533,995 due to the allocation of additional funding by my Department during 2017.

In 2018 the HSA has allocated approximately €624,000 for farm safety initiatives. The actual figure expended might vary during the year in response to particular issues that arise in this or other sectors. These initiatives will involve the organisation of, participation in, or support of a wide range of agriculture related events as well as media coverage. The Authority will also engage in a number of targeted promotional campaigns through relevant media.

In 2018 the HSA has carried out three focused inspection campaigns each of one-month duration. The first campaign focused on Livestock Handling in March, the second campaign was on Farm Vehicle Safety which took place in May and the third on Working at Height and Maintenance took place in October. In addition to these specific campaigns other national campaigns related to vehicle and construction safety will have relevance to the farming sector.

In addition to specific farm safety campaigns or initiatives, inspection visits to farms by inspectors involve routine unannounced inspections to monitor compliance within a range health and safety regulations and to investigate farm accidents. In any one year there can be between 60-90 investigations of incidents on farms with the remainder being unannounced inspections.

The priority tasks for the HSA in relation to engagement with the farming sector during 2018 include:

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

- continuing awareness campaigns through the media, events and advertising targeted at the agricultural sector and the roll out of new TV and Radio adverts

- promotion of good health for farmers;

- publication of new information sheets for agriculture and forestry;

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

- increase take up of e-learning now available for slurry handling, tractor and machinery safety and for child safety on the farm;

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

- development of further survivor stories;

- safety stands at major events such as BEEF 2018, Sheep 2018, Tullamore Show, Ploughing Championships;

- running of a National Farm Safety Conference and a separate Forestry Safety Conference;

Appendix I

Table of Expenditure on Farm Safety Initiatives 2016 to 2018

*Note: Annual figures for expenditure include some cross sectorial initiatives where the expenditure is also relevant to other sectors. As it is not possible to extract this it has been included as the full figure.

Set out below is a table showing the breakdown of the annual farm inspection numbers carried out by the HSA from 2016 to date in 2018*.

Table of Farm inspections and investigations 2016 - 2018

Set out below is a table showing the breakdown of farm deaths expressed as a percentage of the total deaths across all sectors.

Table of farm Fatalities 2016 - 2018 (As of 26/10/18)

2016- *Two additional fatalities reclassified as workplace

** One of which occurred in Agriculture