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Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is delighted to support the inclusion of a Farm Safety message with all Single Payment Scheme application packs which will be distributed to farmers by his Department later this month.

The inclusion of a Farm Safety message with 2012 Single Payment Scheme application packs is a joint initiative between the Health and Safety Authority, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Farm Safety Partnership Advisory Committee, on which the Department is represented.

The Minister said, “this initiative will mean that over 130,000 farmers will each get an individual reminder of the importance of farming safely and the potentially fatal consequences”.

“As Minister for Agriculture I have repeatedly expressed my personal interest and concern around Farm Safety and I consider it crucial in my position to support initiatives such as this one that can bring a safety message to farmers”.

Farming remains the most dangerous occupation in Ireland. Last year, there were 22 farm related deaths and 6,673 reported non-fatal injuries. Poor safety around farm machinery, in particular the farm tractor, as well as risks taken with livestock, remain the main causes of death and injury on farms. Elderly farmers and young children remain the most high risk groups and most accidents occur around the farmyard.

“In my role as Minister, along with the HSA, I support this initiative which will serve to raise farm safety awareness; however, it is individual farmers that hold the key to farming safely” the Minister Concluded.