Campaign warns of deaths on farms

A NEW Health and Safety Authority campaign to draw attention to the high number of farm deaths in Ireland will begin in the new year.

The authority says there have been 20 deaths on farms so far this year, which is five down on last year but still one of the worst years on record.

The press advertising campaign will feature a photograph of a farmer from Co Carlow who lost his arm in a feeder with the tagline “I’m the lucky one”.

“My farm accident didn’t kill me. Every two weeks, on average, someone dies on an Irish farm” the advert reads.

A radio campaign will depict an accident in which a farmer’s arm is taken off by a farm machine. Machinery was one of the major causes of accidents on farms, the authority said yesterday.

Agriculture has more fatal accidents than any other sector at 15 per 100,000, three times the number in the construction industry. Ireland’s record does not compare favourably with that of Britain, which has eight farm deaths per 100,000.

Last year saw the highest number of farm deaths on record when 25 people were killed, up from 10 in 2009.