They trust us to keep them safe

Silage season brings pressure, but child safety cannot wait for silage to finish. Yards that are usually quiet fill with tractors, trailers, and other large machinery. Work is fastpaced, visibility is reduced, and decisions are made quickly. For adults, this is familiar territory. For children, it is a place full of risks they don’t understand, and they have not developed the skills to assess them.

What the numbers show

The number of fatal accidents on farms involving children has reduced over the last 10-year period, but the death of one child is one too many. Sadly, between 2016 and 2025, eight children died in farm-related incidents in Ireland, according to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). Detailed analysis of these statistics shows that all these fatalities involved vehicles, while many of the fatal accidents involving children occurred in areas of active work on the farm. These incidents are not rare outliers. Across the sector, 41 per cent of all farm deaths between 2016 and 2025 involved tractors and other vehicles. I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to anyone who has be affected by a serious or fatal farm accident.

Why summer increases the risk

Children do not experience farms as workplaces, they see them as spaces to play in, to explore, where new adventures are to be had. Large tractors and other machinery and the loud noises they make can generate great excitement. But children do not recognise risk and blind spots, and they cannot judge stopping distances, or how quickly a vehicle can reverse. Many serious incidents happen when an adult assumes a child is indoors, or when everyone thinks someone else is watching them.

What makes farms safer?

Keeping children safe on farms is not about banning them from farm life. It is about removing predictable hazards and setting firm, visible boundaries. They trust us to keep them safe; this is a significant responsibility. A few practical measures can prevent a serious or fatal accident from occurring.

A proper safe-play area
Children need space that is clearly just for them; fenced, secured, and well away from yards, vehicles, machinery and livestock. 

Constant, active supervision
There is no safe amount of time for a child to be unsupervised in a working yard. If they are outside, an adult needs to know exactly where they are.

Zero access to active work areas
When harvest work is underway, children should not be in or near the yard. This is non-negotiable. Children should never be allowed near working farm machinery.

Physical barriers, not assumptions
Slurry-storage facilities and chemical stores must be locked or securely fenced. Relying on memory, warning signs, or a child knowing better is not protection.

Clear rules around animals
Livestock can react suddenly, particularly during breeding or calving. Children should never enter pens or fields with animals, even those considered to be quiet.

A shared responsibility

Child safety is not just the responsibility of parents. Grandparents, other family members, workers, contractors and visitors all influence what happens on a farm.
Children copy behaviour. If rules are relaxed because it is busy, they learn that safety comes second. If boundaries are applied calmly and consistently, they learn that safety matters all the time.
Vehicle and machine operators play a significant role in promoting and maintaining a culture of safety – checking mirrors, expecting the unexpected, refusing to move machinery until yards are clear. That safety culture is shaped by what people are willing to stop work for.

Call to action

Before harvest work reaches full speed, set aside one hour to do the following: 

1. Walk the yard slowly. Look from a child’s height. Ask hard questions.

• Where could a child wander?
• What could move, fall, trap or crush?
• What relies on habit instead of a barrier?

2. Then, act.

• Close the gate. 
• Lock the door. 
• Set the rule. 
• Say no, even when it is awkward.

Farming operations are demanding. But no job or delay is worth a child’s life. Make child safety part of summer work and remember that safety starts before the tractor moves. Always think safety first.