Farmers Urged to Be Inquisitive About Farm Health and Safety

By Teagasc

Tom Curran, Teagasc Head of Advisory Services, has called on farmers to emphasize health and safety when consulting with advisors. He made his call at the Teagasc Moorepark Dairy Open Day, where the importance of farm health and safety was emphasized.

Tom Curran's call comes after the publication of a study on advisors' intention to discuss farm safety. The research was conducted as part of the Teagasc Be Safe project studying farmer behavioral safety.

The study established that farmers generally do not emphasize farm safety as an important aspect of their farm work and they do not ask for support from their advisor with this aspect of farm management. Consequently, advisors hesitate to address farm health and safety as they perceive that farmers do not consider it a matter of importance.

Dr. Mohammad Mohammadrezaei, the lead author of the study, explained that "Advisors are less likely to talk about farm health and safety if they think that farmers they work with, and leading farmers in particular, believe farm safety is unimportant. To change this, farmers need to be proactive and ask advisors about health or safety issues."