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Some 210 people lost their lives in farm accidents in the last decade, new figures from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) show.
Incidents involving tractors and farm vehicles accounted for 31% of farm fatalities.
Machinery was the next highest cause at 20%, followed by livestock at 13%.
The majority of deaths involving machinery, tractors or farm vehicles were caused as a result of crushing, while over half of fatalities due to livestock resulted from an attack from a cow or heifer.
One of the most poignant findings in the HSA figures showed that 23 children had lost their lives on farms between 2008 and 2017, with the majority of deaths again involving machinery, tractors and farm vehicles.
Older farmers also made up a significant number of farm fatalities, with 74 in total losing their lives in the past decade. Some 36% of older farmer deaths involved tractors and farm vehicles and 22% involved livestock.
The fatality figures are reinforced by findings from the Teagasc National Farm Survey, which showed that non-fatal accidents involving machinery have more than doubled.
They accounted for a quarter of the 2,814 farm accidents recorded between 2012 and 2017.
Some 42% of all accidents involved livestock, with dairy farmers the most likely to have an on-farm accident, followed by tillage, sheep and suckler farmers.
A HSA sppokesperson said: “The HSA is working with the farming community to help reduce these tragic accidents. We are planning to carry out 2,000 farm inspections this year and engage with 50 Discussion and Knowledge Transfer Groups, so hopefully we will meet with a further 2,000 farmers through them.
“These groups encourage peer-to-peer learning and we believe they will help make safety part of farming culture. Our message is simple, ‘Safe farming is sustainable farming’.”
The HSA has a budget of €624,000 for farm safety initiatives including inspections in 2018.Farming remains the most dangerous occupation in Ireland, with an average of 13 deaths per 1,000 workers on farms, compared with 2.5 deaths per 1,000 workers in other industries.
The Safe Family Farms partnership is a joint initiative between ESB Networks and the Irish Farmers Journal with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of working safely and responsibly within agriculture.
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