Dr John McNamara, Teagasc Health and Safety Specialist, highlights the need for leadership in farm safety and encourages everyone involved in farming to become their own ‘Farm Safety Hero’, as part of Farm Safety Week 2025.

‘Farm Safety Hero’ is Friday’s theme of Farm Safety Week 2025. The dictionary definition of a ‘hero’ includes persons who are recognised for their ‘courage, outstanding achievements, or admirable qualities’. The farming sector urgently needs people who have the courage to both practise and lead practical farm health and safety improvements. Everyone should be their own ‘Farm Safety Hero’. This is in the best interests of protecting themselves, their families, and all who work on farms from the detrimental, and sometimes fatal, effects of farm accidents and ill health.

The farming sector is largely self-employed, and farmers make their own decisions relating to risk levels and health and safety standards. Accordingly, farm safety and health leadership is needed on every farm unit. Farmer leadership is essential to raise the practical profile of farm health and safety within the farming community. Recent Irish research indicates that advisors/consultants believe a high proportion of farmers, and leading farmers in particular, consider farm safety unimportant. As a consequence, advisors/consultants are less likely to promote farm health and safety. A ‘two-way’ dialogue achieves the best adoption of new technologies, where each party challenges the other. This represents a lost opportunity to improve farm safety culture. To change this culture, farmers need to be proactive and ask advisors/consultants about health and safety issues.

Another area where farm safety leadership is required is in passing on safety values to young people in the farming sector. Recent Irish research, however, has found that the influence of family, friends or farmers on agricultural science students was largely negative. This led to a low perception of risk and underestimation of farm dangers.

This finding aligns with a growing body of research highlighting that young farmers model their behaviours on older or more experienced farmers. A Canadian study has shown that where a farmer takes high risks, the risk levels for their children and young workers are also heightened. Thus, leadership and good example are essential to improving safety culture into the future.

Teagasc particularly wishes to pay tribute to farmers who have shared their experiences of injury or ill health so that others may learn and prevent future incidents. These accounts should motivate us all to give farm safety top priority.

These stories also help us better understand the interplay of factors that lead to accidents. The Survivor Stories series may be found on the HSA website.

Teagasc also wishes to acknowledge emergency service staff as ‘Farm Safety Heroes’ who come to our assistance when most needed. They are highly trained and act with only our best interests at heart.

Be a Farm Safety Hero!