Farm Safety Hub

Up to 50% of workplace fatalities take place on a farm

IFA Farm Safety 2024 Leaflet

The IFA wants its members to be able to work and come home each evening. We want Irish farms to be amongst the safest places to work which is why we have created a dedicated resource to support and improve safety awareness amongst farmers and farm families.

We work with other stakeholders in the sector in a co-ordinated effort to unite our voices in reducing farm accidents and tragedies.

Farm Safety Week 2024

2024 marks the twelvth annual Farm Safety Week. The collaborative campaign, initiated by the Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) in the UK and led by the IFA within Ireland brings together farming organisations from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland Britain on the topic of farm safety.

Twelve years on farming still has the poorest safety record of any occupation, why is this and more importantly what are we going to do about it?

Farm Safety Videos

Child Safety

Mental Health

Farm Safety Statistics

Useful Links

Farm Safety News

Farm Safety Video 2024

For the past number of years, to mark the week, IFA has spoke with farm accident survivors and families of a farm accident victims, and encouraged them to tell their stories to raise awareness on this issue. Our farm accident story this year is told by PJ Fitzsimons from Co. Monaghan.

PJ’s father Peter lost his life in a farm accident when he fell through farm shed roof and suffered fatal injuries. PJ was with his father at the time of the accident, and recalls the events, the impact it had on him and his family’s life, how they coped with grief, and highlights the importance of farm safety. Watch PJ’s story here on Monday, 22nd July 2024.

We are very thankful to all those individuals who appeared in various video campaigns since the beginning of the Farm Safety Week initiative to highlight the importance of farm safety. For those who have survived, we thank you for your bravery in recalling those events and we forever remember those who were lost to us.

Farm Safety Events 2024

Farm Safety Hero 2024

John is the national Health and Safety Specialist with Teagasc, the Irish State agency responsible for agricultural and food-related research, training, and education. He has been driving insights into farm safety best practices in Ireland for over 30 years and leads work in the area of farm safety at Teagasc who have around 1,200 staff to promote, train and give advice to farmers across the country.

John’s network extends beyond Ireland: his work is well-known and respected internationally particularly across Europe and America. John has also been forefront in national and global research studies in collaboration with state and farming organisations in Ireland and further afield.

Thanks to his efforts, numerous ground-breaking projects have been established, leading to significant improvements in farmer health and safety in Ireland and Europe. He is a valued member of many national and international multidisciplinary committees, including the Irish Farm Safety Partnership.

John’s thirst for knowledge, international reach and genuine commitment to making a difference to Ireland’s safety record mean that he is a true Farm Safety Hero.

Quad Safety

The use of ATV/Quad Bikes is becoming more and more common on farms and forests and for many other sectors such as road works, airports, military ATV’s/Quads are essential pieces of equipment. However, there have been a significant number of fatalities involving quads and the potential for a serious injury or fatality when using a quad is high.

Regulations governing the safe use of ATV/ Quad Bikes in all workplaces (SI 619/2021) came into effect on 20 November 2023.

These regulations have 2 essential requirements

Training to be undertaken with a registered training provider to a QQI standard or equivalent
Use of helmets to a (generally) prescribed standard.

Persons who undertake ATV/Quad Bike training must ensure that:

The training provider used, is a registered training provider, registered with a registration body such as QQI, ABA, Lantra, City & Guilds or others such registered training bodies.
On successful completion of the training course, they receive a certificate of training that confirms that the course was successfully completed to the QQI standard 5N1752 or equivalent
They retain and show when requested their training certificate as proof of training.

IFA held a Quad Safety Training Information Webinar. Recording of webinar can be found at www.ifa.ie/quadsafety.

Check out our Quad Safety Awareness document here

Animal Handling

HSA’s Safe Handling of Cattle on Farms Leaflet – Safe Handling of Cattle on Farms Information Sheet

Child Safety

Where we understand how a farm can have such appeal to a young child, we must always be mindful that a farm is not a playground. For those times when children might be visiting the farm ensure they are supervised and only exposed to jobs that are age appropriate.

Farm Safe Schools – Champions Top Farm Safety Tips

Health and Wellbeing Tips

The IFA have put together a guide for farmers around the stress. Stress plays a huge part in farm safety and this guide gives tips on identifying and coping with stress. See the full guide here.

The Health and Safety Authority are highlighting farmers’ health and wellbeing as a crucial aspect to farm safety. Here is their Guide to Staying Healthy While Farming.

HSA Code of Practice

The Health and Safety Authority are the ruling body regarding safety in the workplace including farms. This Code of Practice applies only to on-farm work activities and their potential impact on children and young persons.

Visit the HSA website to access their full resources aimed to educate and grow awareness regarding children’s safety on and around a farm.