5 days ago
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.
