The Organic Mayo KT Group met in Westport recently to launch a collection of farm safety tools. Part of the BeSafe Project, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the knowledge transfer (KT) group worked with some of the project’s key findings and developed them into practical tools to raise farm safety awareness and address risks.

Speaking at the event, farmer member Michael Holmes said: “You have to talk to farmers, to get an understanding of what happens on farms, in order to find ways to address and improve things.”

A farmer-centred approach was a key aspect of the BeSafe Project, explained by Dr Áine Macken-Walsh who led the co-design process for BeSafe.

“The BeSafe scientific team identified key risks based on evidence. Farmers in this innovative KT group took a selection of those risks and used their decades of farming experience to contextualise them to real-life farming scenarios and develop practical tools to address them,” the Teagasc researcher said.

Organic Advisor, KT Group Facilitator and acting Mayo Regional Manager, John Noonan emphasised the importance of making farm safety an everyday part of farming life: “When we’re doing a job, with sheep or cattle or whatever, do we think, is this safe? This should an automatic consideration, to think of safety. It should be part of the plan.”

The group developed prototypes, which a team of animators and graphic designers developed into finished versions. An updated, interactive farm safety map was produced by the group, highlighting common hazards on farms. Further tools designed by the group are an animation, showing a farm of the future with labour-saving and data-based technology for improved farm safety; and a prototype job planning app that builds farm safety to all relevant steps.

Referring to the tools, farmer member Martin Kerrigan explained: “Visuals are important to help remind farmers at all times that there are safety risks with almost every job on a farm.” A further tool was developed with Teagasc, Moorepark and Teagasc Dairy Advisors to support better time management on farms, reflecting the relationship between time pressure and risk of farm accidents.

Farmer member PJ Foy, whose young son attended the launch, explained: “The older you get, the more near misses you experience, the more aware you are. The more you pinch your fingers in gates, and more serious things, the more sense you get. We need to share that sense of safety with our younger farmers. Young people need to be more aware at a younger age, and tools like this can share and widen common lessons and experience.”

Teagasc Farm Health and Safety Specialist, Francis Bligh further emphasised the vital importance of engendering awareness of farm safety among youth – both youth who live on farms and those who don’t, as a high proportion of all youth live, visit and may consider future careers on farms.

The BeSafe project (DAFM, 17/S/269) undertook research on farm safety in Ireland and then developed practical farm safety approaches to effect positive, lasting change. The BeSafe Project was led by Dr David Meredith (Teagasc) with the co-design work undertaken by Dr Áine Macken-Walsh and Dr Marion Beecher (Teagasc) and involved colleagues at the University of Galway and University College Dublin. The scientific team was complemented by the expertise of extension specialists Dr John MacNamara and Francis Bligh from Teagasc, regulatory specialists from the Health and Safety Authority and was supported by the Farm Safety Partnership.

Dr John McNamara, Senior Specialist Advisor in Occupational Safety and Health Teagasc, said: “The BeSafe tools complement a diverse range of initiatives and practical tools that are informed by scientific research but for direct use by farmers – they are suitable for wide circulation in farming circles and use in discussion groups, which will enhance their impact.”

Dr David Meredith, coordinator of the BeSafe Project, highlighted the effectiveness of taking a farmer-centred, multi-actor approach: “BeSafe has shown that placing co-design of solutions intended for farmers’ use in the hands of farmers themselves is an effective way of developing impactful approaches for policy and practice – we are continuing and expanding this approach in the EU funded SafeHabitus Project and other nationally funded projects that are in the pipeline.”

The BeSafe Farm Safety Tools are available at: https://teagasc.ie/about/farm-advisory/advisory-methodologies/agile/behaviours-for-safer-farming/