Tomorrow, July 21st, marks Farm Safety Awareness day.

The event is part of the IFA’s Farm Safety Awareness campaign, and during this time all farmers, and farm families, are being asked to set aside some time to review safety on their farm.

This year, 14 lives have been lost due to farm accidents. This is a 70% increase from the same time last  year.

Farming is by far Ireland’s most dangerous occupation, and the initiative aims to reduce the amount of deaths on farms every year.

IFA President Eddie Downey said: “Being tired, distracted and stressed is often a reality on busy farms and every effort must be made to avoid shortcuts. At the peak of this busy summer season on farms, safety must come first. We want farmers to ‘Think Farm Safety’ on July 21st and to continue to ‘Think Farm Safety’ every day after that, because taking even one risk is taking one risk too many.”

IFA Farm Family Committee Chair Maura Canning said the IFA ‘Think Farm Safety Day’ is about ‘focusing busy minds’ and also about ‘making sure farming families are alert to the risks’ that exist on farms: “We all know that farms are dangerous workplaces, but when working long hours in difficult conditions, that awareness can slip to the back of the mind.

“By putting the spotlight on farm safety on July 21st we hope to remind farmers and their families to take time to think safety and farm safely every day.”