Safety at Silage Appeal

The months of May, June, July and August coincide with peak harvesting and transporting of silage on Irish farms. 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.

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.

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 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. If you require more information, this can be got through the Teagasc website www.teagasc.ie  where other recent safety videos and safety guidelines have been published in recent weeks. This document can also be filled out online at www.farmsafely.com.