FRS Co-Op is offering free farm safety training to 300 families this year as part of an ongoing initiative designed to improve safety and wellbeing on Irish farms.
Supported by funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the farm safety training initiative will provide a cost-effective and sustainable training-led approach to foster farm safety and wellbeing within each generation of the family.
At the heart of the initiative is the concept of continuous professional development (CPD), which is a commitment to ongoing lifelong learning through enhancing, refreshing, and updating training and skills.
The Farm Family CPD programme run by FRS Co-Op comprises five online courses that are designed to change attitudes and behaviours around farm safety to reduce the level of on-farm fatal and non-fatal incidents.
Led by FRS Co-Op’s training division, the Farm Family CPD initiative was developed in partnership with the Health & Safety Authority, IFA, FBD, Teagasc and a number of Irish farm families.
Farming continues to account for a disproportionate level of fatal and serious injury workplace accidents. Since 2014, 38% of all workplace fatal accidents occurred on farms, while research by Teagasc estimates that approximately 4,500 accidents occur on Irish farms each year. Of these, almost half of accidents put the victim out of work for at least four days.
FRS Co-Op encourages all farmers to continuously think about farm safety and wellbeing, and to avail of the free Farm Family CPD courses, which will deliver unique and practical training for all generations of the farm family.
The free training courses will commence in August this year, and all interested families can sign up at www.farmfamilycpd.ie.
