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Agriland
02-08-2025
- Politics
- Agriland
Farm safety: Children have 'potential to change cultures and behaviours'
The "influence" children can have in changing "cultures and behaviours" around farm safety and risks "cannot be underrated". Alma Jordan, founder of AgriKids, a farm safety educational platform for children created to "engage, educate and empower children to be farm safety ambassadors", told politicians this week that children can be key in creating a "sustainably safer future on our farms". The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food held a discussion on farm safety, with representatives including from AgriKids, Embrace FARM and FBD Insurance. Alma Jordan said that 80,000 children have engaged with the AgriKids programme and said that they are "passionate learners, passionate about farming, and passionate to share their learnings at home and in their community". "We speak about this need to break the culture, change behaviours, denormalise attitudes to risk-taking - they can help us," Jordan said. "I have had children as young as four reminding parents to lock chemical sheds, leave the area when agitating slurry; a 12-year-old asking how much a PTO (power take-off) cover was so she could buy her dad one with her confirmation money." She told the committee that children have the "absolute capacity" to influence for the better and "create this much-needed change". Jordan is urging people to stop sharing "vanity over sanity" imagery and videos of children on farms. "This topic needs common sense but also compassion and compromise. We need to work with farmers, listen to them," she said. "Understand the uniqueness of a farm as both a workplace and a home, what are the challenges that are getting in the way, and find a work around." Minister of State for farm safety, Michael Healy-Rae, recently announced that the Department of Agriculture is seeking proposals for projects which promote children's and young person's safety awareness on farms for the next five years. The department is providing funding of €200,000 from its dedicated farm safety budget for 2025, with an option to extend the contract for a further four years. The initiatives must be delivered by November 2025. Alma Jordan, welcoming the recent call, told the committee however that asking for school farm safety initiatives to be conducted in what would be considered the "off-season" for this topic - between September and November - is "not at all an ideal or sound investment for these funds". "Pre-Christmas is simply the wrong time of year for farm-themed lessons and will be difficult to get optioned when competing with back to school, Christmas activities, and mid-term breaks. "So we do respectfully request a consideration be given to times of the year for any such upcoming funding opportunities," she said. She recommended that spring and summer is a better time of year for these projects. Embrace FARM co-founder Norma Rohan has said that farm safety "must be more than just physical safety". "A tragedy on the farm doesn't just affect an individual - it sends shockwaves through the family, the business, and the entire rural community. "Farm safety must be more than just physical safety. It must also embrace emotional, mental, and relational wellbeing. "From the stories we hear daily, it's clear: a silent pandemic of grief, trauma, and isolation leading to mental health difficulties is sweeping through our rural communities." Rohan told the committee that not just farmers, but contractors, processors, agri-food businesses, policymakers and more in the agri-food chain must all play a part in farm safety and wellbeing - so that it is a shared responsibility and "does not rest solely on the shoulders of farmers". FBD Insurance representatives told the committee that its own claims' experience is closely in line with published statistics around farm accidents. The most common and serious accidents involve farm machinery, farm vehicles, falls, livestock, and slurry. A number of the Oireachtas committee members highlighted the dangers of farm vehicles, and the risks involved with children operating them. Alma Jordan has called for competency-based testing for children before they can legally drive a tractor. Tractor and machinery use accounted for almost half of all farm-related deaths in the 10-year period from 2015 to 2024 with 79 people killed, 12 of whom were children, according to the Health and Safety Authority. Kate Tobin, chief financial officer of FBD, told the committee that around 10 years ago, "we saw some very high levels of accidents and high claims experience". "We would have been seeing about 1,000 accidents a year, we've seen that reduce now to in the region of 800," Tobin said. "That's still quite high, but we have certainly seen a reduction over time."
Agriland
31-07-2025
- General
- Agriland
Watch Farm Safe Farm Well Keeping Children Safe on the Farm
In the first instalment of Agriland Media's new series, Farm Safe, Farm Well, we discuss how to keep children safe while on the farm. The Farm Safe Farm Well series, produced by Agriland Media in conjunction with AXA Insurance, is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). Over the coming months, the series, which includes articles, videos and podcasts, will focus on different themes related to farm safety and wellbeing. As the summer holidays are in full swing, it is more important than ever to ensure that children are kept safe while on the farm. Although many children like to help on the farm, it is important for everyone to remember that farms are not playgrounds and that children must be carefully supervised. According to data from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) children and young people accounted for 9% of all fatalities on Irish farms between 2014 and 2013. 84% of the fatal accidents to children on farms in the period involved the use of tractors and machinery. Alma Jordan lives in Julianstown in Co. Meath with her husband Mark and son, Eamon where they run a tillage, cattle and horse enterprise. In response to a spike in farm deaths in 2014, which included five children, Alma wrote a series of story books for children on the theme of farm safety. She also founded AgriKids, a farm safety educational platform specifically for children, which provides tools, resources and learning aids for teachers to use in the classroom. Over the past decade, 80,000 children have engaged with the AgriKids programme. In 2020, AgriKids launched the 'Farm Safety Roadshow', a specially equipped truck which travels to shows around the country, offering a "one stop shop" of farm safety resources for children of all ages. "My ethos is to engage, to educate, but to empower our children to become our farm safety ambassadors," Alma told Agriland. Alma said she is "not an advocate for keeping our children off the farm" as "it's an incredible place to learn". However, she said that young people "need to appreciate the fact that they are coming into the most hazardous of workplaces". "It's really about making sure that we're exposing them to jobs that are age appropriate, that's within their ability and their competency levels. "We find that when we have animals they always need to be fed, there's always a yard that needs to be swept, a shed that needs to be mucked out. There's always work that needs to be done with the animals. "When they get that little bit older, hitting 14, 15 and upwards, then we can expose them to the life of driving and handling farm machinery," she said. Alma Jordan AgriKids Alma stressed the importance of children being taught the meaning of the signs they see on farms. During the summer months, farms may see an increase in visits from family and friends who may not be from a farming background. "That's an ideal opportunity to remind your children that there may be people coming to the farm that aren't used to farm life. So reinstill the message again when is it safe to go and when do you have to say no," Alma said. The AgriKids founder said that there are things we can all do to make farms a safer place for everyone and that the farmer should "lead by example". "This doesn't have to be rocket science. A lot of the area around farm safety is very specific to your own farm. "Have a look around the type of farm that you have, identify where the hazards are and use it as an opportunity to help educate, teach and empower your own children around the areas that they need to watch out for on a farm, but most importantly, explain why," Alma said. The HSA reminded farmers that children between the ages of 7 and 16 may ride on a tractor provided the tractor is fitted with a properly designed and fitted passenger seat (with seat belts) inside a safety cab or frame. The authority added that "under no circumstances" should a child under 7 years of age be carried inside the cab of a tractor, regardless of whether a passenger seat is provided or not. Only children over 14 should be allowed to drive a tractor or self-propelled vehicle, in line with legal requirements The HSA said that a young person aged 14 or over should only be permitted to drive a tractor or self-propelled machine on the farm, if: They have attended a formal training course run by a competent training provider; They are closely supervised by a responsible adult; They have the ability to operate the controls with ease; All the controls are conveniently accessible for safe operation by the operator when seated in the driver's seat; The controls which operate the power take off (PTO) devices, hydraulic devices and engine cut-off are clearly marked to show the effect of their operation; The tractor is maintained so that it is safe for them to operate; The ground over which the tractor is driven is free from hazards such as steep slopes or excavations, river banks, lake or pond edges, deep ditches and similar areas You can find more information on keeping children safe on your farm on the HSA website by clicking here.
RTÉ News
05-06-2025
- General
- RTÉ News
Monaghan school to raise awareness of farm safety
A primary school in Co Monaghan will today hold a multi-agency initiative aimed at improving its pupils' awareness of farm safety. The day-long event at St Daigh's National School in Inniskeen comes as one of the busiest times on Irish farms gets underway. The school has said with children being out and about more often over the summer months, it wants to reinforce that while farms can be a wonderful place to spend some time, there are also many dangers that come with farming, including heavy machinery, livestock and hazardous chemicals. Its message to pupils will be: 'The farmyard is not a schoolyard.' A number of different agencies including paramedics, community gardaí, local farmers and representatives from farm safety educational platform, AgriKids will come together today. They will each deliver specially tailored interactive workshops to the school's pupils in junior infants right up to sixth class. Teachers Aisling Kelly and Niamh Monahan have said they decided to organise such an event because they are aware of how many of the school's pupils come from an agricultural background and will be spending more time on the farm over the summer months. They said what started out as being a first aid training class soon saw more organisations coming on board and quickly grew into a multi-agency initiative. Ms Kelly and Ms Monahan hope that the day will make pupils at the school aware of the dangers on a farm through a child-friendly, positive lens. They also want to equip pupils with the basic skills to know what to do should they ever encounter a farm accident or injury, while at same time also raising awareness about life on a farm in rural Ireland, something which they say will also be of benefit to children from non-agricultural backgrounds. According to the Health and Safety Authority, a total of 17 children died in farm-related incidents between 2014 and 2023, which made up 9% of all farm fatalities during that period. Farming is also consistently identified as the most dangerous workplace in Ireland, with a disproportionate number of fatalities compared to the overall workforce. Last year, agriculture accounted for 12 of all 34 workplace-related fatalities. This means that over a third of all fatalities came from a sector employing just 4% of the workforce. Community Engagement Officer with the National Ambulance Service for the Dublin and North East area, paramedic Liam Stewart, is one of those taking part in the initiative. "In the summer months, there is increased activity around farms and this can lead to more callouts for our crews to attend incidents," he said. "Overall, there are around 4,500 farm accidents annually. It is important to know and respect farm safety. Initiatives such as today can help improve awareness among young people," he added. Meanwhile, Principal of St Daigh's National School, Tomás MacGiollachamáin said: "We're looking forward to an informative and fun day ahead. We feel our school farm safety day is a vital initiative that equips our pupils with knowledge that could one day save lives. "It's also a fantastic example of the Irish seanfhocail: 'Ní neart go cur le chéile' - there is no strength without unity," he added. More information and resources on how to keep children and young people safe on farms can be found on the Health and Safety Authority and AgriKids websites.
