Over half of farmers engage in unsafe practices: survey

Some 57% per cent of farmers engage in unsafe farming practices according to research completed by Teagasc researchers.

Dr Mohammad Mohammdrezaei, Teagasc, Rural Economy Department, who led the analysis, stated: "The research shows farmers know and understand that farming is a dangerous occupation. However, they believe people who they consider to be good farmers do not think safety is an important issue. As a consequence, whilst farmers may intend to be safe, they engage in practices that are unsafe as this is what they believe other farmers and people they respect expect them to do."

Dr David Meredith, Teagasc and BeSafe project leader, stated that the results of the work are similar to other recently completed research that shows farmers play a critical role in influencing, not only other farmers, but also family members, other workers, and farm advisors. Dr Meredith said: "Roughly 26% of farmers can be considered to practice safe farming. These farmers are important role models for farmers who have good safety intentions but are slow to adopt safe practices because of a perception that ‘good farmers’ do not take safety seriously."

The BeSafe team will be working with farmers and other stakeholders to develop and test tools that empower safe farmers to play a greater role in leading on safety at local, regional and national levels.

The research was undertaken as part of the BeSafe project which is a collaboration between researchers in Teagasc, UCD and Galway University. The project is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The full results of the study will be presented at the BeSafe National Farm Safety Conference taking place in Teagasc, Dublin 15 today (Wednesday) where the Minister for Farm Safety will launch a series of farm safety videos.