Safety at Silage Appeal

During the hot weather of Farm Safety Week coinciding with peak harvesting and transporting of silage on Irish farms, Brendan Garry, Teagasc Ballinrobe issues a timely safety at silage appeal. There is extra machinery on our roads and farms so extra caution is needed by all parties.

Each year on Irish farms, several thousand accidents occur with many of these accidents being fatal. There are many causes of accidents but each year accidents caused by machinery tend to contribute a high proportion of these accidents.  Traditionally the months of May, June, July and August tend to coincide with the peak harvesting and transporting of silage on Irish farms. These results in extra machinery in operation on our roads and farms so extra caution is needed by all parties.      

In this short video produced by Brendan Garry, Teagasc Ballinrobe, a timely safety at silage appeal is issued to all road users including pedestrians, contractors, farmers, motorists to watch out for this extra machinery on our roads over the next number of months  especially now with the silage season well underway in many areas.

Children on the farm

Furthermore children by their nature will want to visit the farm and farmyards when extra machinery is in operation but an appeal is being made to parents to keep their children away from farmyards if possible during this extra busy time and if they have to visit, to please ensure that they are supervised and watched vigilantly during this busy period.

Risk Assessment Document

With regards to safety, we all have a role to play in reducing farm accidents so everyone is encouraged to pick up a copy of the Farm Safety Code of Practice Risk Assessment Document which is the standard document to be filled out for farms with three or less employees and this could help highlight other risks on your farm and this could in turn help to prevent an accident occurring on your farm. These documents can be accessed by contacting your local Teagasc Office at Teagasc Advisory Regions here . This document can also be filled out online at www.farmsafely.com.

For further Farm Safety information check out the Farm Safety Week Section on the Teagasc Website.

All this week on Teagasc Daily we are following the themes of Farm Safety Week on a Daily basis so be sure to check in with Teagasc Daily each day for more 

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