In connection with the upcoming summer school holidays, the Northern Ireland Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) encourages farmers to “think safe” before doing any work on the farm that could pose a risk of injury or death.

The end of the semester is the time that most children look forward to, especially if it means helping on a family farm.

However, LMC Executive Director Ian Stevenson said that while he wants to encourage children to spend time on the farm and learn about agriculture, it is vital that safety is taken into account with the utmost care to prevent accidents.

“Farms can be very dangerous places where animals and cars can move, chemicals and processing tools are used, agricultural materials are stored and processed, tanks and bunkers are filled, and so on,” said Ian Stevenson.

“It is very important that proper procedures are followed and risks are carefully assessed when it comes to farm safety management. As an affiliate member of the Farm Safety Partnership, in recent years we have worked closely with the Northern Ireland Health and Safety Manager (HSENI) to help convey farm safety information.

It is believed that working in rural areas is an ideal profession with minimal stress factors and low risk, but there are very real dangers that farmers and their families face every day. Every effort must be made to ensure that farms are as safe as possible, ”concluded the Executive Director of the Northern Ireland Livestock and Meat Commission.