Farm safety drive to prevent Northern Ireland child fatalities

The warning follows an extensive education and outreach programme – ‘Be Aware Kids Child Safety on Farms’ – that included HSENI staff visiting more than 75 rural primary schools in recent months.

Since 2000, eleven children have lost their lives on farms in Northern Ireland, with many others injured, during what is a particularly busy time of the year.

HSENI chief executive Robert Kidd said: “Keeping children safe on farms is one of those things that everyone agrees on. It is simply unthinkable to lose a child or have them seriously injured in a farming incident.

“Those who have experienced this bear unimaginable pain for the rest of their lives. But it needn’t be this way in the future. We can take action to keep our children safe and we must do everything we can to prevent our children being injured or killed in farming incidents.”

Mr Kidd added: “It is really important that our children are educated about safety on farm so that they are aware of the potential dangers and learn how to avoid them. I am making a personal plea to all farm families to make child farm safety a priority.

“Please talk about safety as a family and put in place simple, practical, measures to make sure your children are safe at all times.”