As Farm Safety Week 2025 begins, it is imperative for us all to consider how everyone working within agriculture can be kept safe at all times.

The summer holiday season is now with us, which is always a busy time on farms.

For one thing, there tends to be more people around the place, with many older family members off work and the children not at school.

The silage and harvest seasons are in full swing. This means there will be lots of large machinery working in both fields and farm yards.

Such activity is a magnet for young children, who want to get an up-close view of everything going on.

However, all of this comes with immense health and safety implications.

The reality is that with more people on the scene and everyone wanting to help out, the risk of a serious accident taking place becomes all the greater.

Preventing accidents requires those involved in any farm-related activity taking that little bit of extra time to work through all the permutations with regard to what could and could not happen.

No job is that urgent that an extra minute or two’s preparation would not help the project to be completed more efficiently and safely, from everyone’s point of view.

All the regulations in the world will not improve farm safety levels on local farms. Mind you, any farmer found to be breaching any health and safety regulations must be dealt with vigorously by all the relevant adjudicating bodies.

What is really required, though, is a concerted effort on the part of those involved within the farming industry to put their safety and the safety of others first at all times.

Children are particularly vulnerable when it comes to farm accidents. They tend to get into places where they should not be....simply because they are young and full of life.

So, it is up to parents to make sure that the next generation of farmers are taught from the get-go that farms are inherently dangerous places and that nothing can be taken for granted – ever.

Farm machinery continues to get bigger. Moreover, the speed that modern tractors and other powered vehicles can now achieve around farm yards and enclosed spaces is frightening.

It has gotten to the stage where people should always look twice before entering any farm building just to make sure that they are not about to encounter some very large piece of shiny machinery coming towards them at break-neck speed.