HSA launches national farm-safety campaign

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) launched a national farm-safety inspection campaign on 31st March 2025.  

In recent years, there has been a significant number of vehicle-related accidents on Irish farms, so the focus of this campaign has been on the safe use of tractors, machinery and other vehicles. According to statistics released by the HSA, there were 28 vehicle-related deaths on farms between 2020 and 2024, including four children.    

The HSA has stated that most of these incidents with tractors and farm machinery were caused by a combination of operative behaviors, maintenance issues, and insufficient training.  

It is also important to note that a significant number of incidents have occurred while young children or elderly people have been present around dangerous farming activities. Four of the deaths reported between 2020 and 2024 were deaths of children, highlighting the urgent need for safe practices and policies when it comes to farm visitors.   

Farming vehicle safety 

Working with farming vehicles requires constant maintenance and training. If you own a farm, it is vital that you and your staff are trained in how to safely use every bit of equipment throughout the farming process, from tractors and trailers to excavators and hay balers. No matter how confident your employees may feel, it is essential that you carry out complete and sufficient safety training for your staff. 

Additionally, employers in the farming industry should anticipate the possibility that vehicles and machines can malfunction if not maintained properly and regularly. Again, no matter how confident you may feel driving a vehicle, maintenance is essential to ensuring that that vehicle is operating as it should.   

As an employer, you are responsible for the safety of your employees, and failure to create a safe working environment could lead to tragic outcomes, as well as significant legal and financial consequences.   

Section 8 of the 2005 Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act outlines specific safety responsibilities concerning machinery. Employers are required to ensure that machinery is designed, installed, and maintained safely to prevent any health risks to employees. Furthermore, Section 19 of the Act mandates that employers carry out a risk assessment for any machinery usage. The findings of these risk assessments must then be documented and retained until at least the next inspection.  

How to prepare for a HSA inspection 

Your HSA inspector will want to know about the main Health & Safety risks affecting your workplace, as well as the measures taken by the business to protect your employees, customers and any other visitors.

As well as asking about day-to-day work activity, examining potential health risks and speaking to your staff members, the inspector will also examine any control measures that are relevant to your specific industry.  

In the case of a farming-vehicle inspection, inspectors are likely to pay particular attention to the vehicles on your farm and the risks associated with those vehicles. 

When announcing this latest farm-safety inspection campaign, the HSA released a checklist of what the main areas of focus would be, as well as a list of questions for farm owners to ask themselves in preparation: 

• Is work activity planned in advance? 
• Have all drivers or operators received adequate instruction and training? 
• Are brakes, handbrakes and parking brakes working properly? 
• Are cabs, doors and steps in good condition? 
• Are tractor mirrors clean, not cracked and set correctly? 
• Do all operators of vehicles have the correct PPE (personal protective equipment)? 
• Is work organised to avoid the presence of young children or other vulnerable individuals such as elderly family members? 

These questions are a useful guide for farm owners who are preparing for a possible vehicle-safety inspection, or for any kind of Health & Safety inspection that may take place in the future. It is also crucial that farming business owners ensure that their Health & Safety documentation, policies and risk assessments are fully compliant and up to date.