Farm Safety Week - HSENI launches Avoid Harm on the Farm poster competition

The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland and NI Farm Safety Partnership recently launched their 2020 child safety poster competition.

Now half way through the competition and half way through Farm Safety Week, we are actively encouraging NI primary aged schoolchildren to get involved!

The competition is for children to draw and colour a picture to illustrate a farm safety message and use their voice to remind parents and family members of the risks involved in farming. The pictures should be drawn relating to the four key dangers on farms namely Slurry, Animals, Falls and Equipment.

This competition has been running successfully for a number of years now, but unfortunately this year due to the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in with COVID-19, our staff have not had the opportunity to visit rural primary schools in the run up to the summer holidays to deliver our farm safety messages and encourage pupils to enter the poster competition.

Nonetheless we have had an excellent response from pupils across Northern Ireland, with HSENI having received 548 entries up until Friday 17 July 2020, and the winners so far have been:

• Week 1:  Meabh Devine, aged 9, St Colmcille Primary School, Claudy
• Week 2:  Marykate Sloan, aged 5, Holy Cross Primary School, Atticall
• Week 3:  Wesley Baird, aged 9, Strabane Primary School, Strabane
• Week 4:  Beth McAuley, aged 6, Woodburn Primary School, Carrickfergus
• Week 5:  Leah O’Hagan, aged 11, Knocknagin Primary School, Desertmartin
• Week 6:  Eli Irvine, aged 9, Lisbellaw Primary School, Enniskillen
• Week 7:  Daniel Glenn, aged 8, Carr Primary School, Lisburn

Chief Executive of the HSENI, Robert Kidd, said: “Child safety on farms remains a strategic key focus for HSENI and the Farm Safety Partnership. This competition is a great way for local pupils across Northern Ireland to engage and think about the daily dangers in and around a farmyard, and to think about the steps they can take to ensure they stay safe on the farm.

“Drawing is a great distraction for children during these trying times. At a time when children are spending more time on farm, the competition acts as an important reminder for parents and children alike that farms are not playgrounds and farming is the only workplace where children continue to lose their lives.”

So whether students are at school or home, they can still enter the competition by drawing or painting a picture based on four key dangers on the farm:

• Dangers from slurry
• Dangers from farm animals
• Dangers from tractors and other farm machinery
• Dangers from falls and falling objects

The theme for each week is announced every Monday on HSENI’s Facebook page and on the website www.hseni.gov.uk.

Competition terms and conditions can be found at:

• Terms & Conditions for Child Farm Safety Poster Competition

Further information on Key Stage 1 & 2 (including links to downloadable child farm safety colouring sheets) can be found on the HSENI website at:

• Be Aware Kids - Child Safety on Farms campaign

Notes to editors: 

1. For more information on the Farm Safety Partnership please contact HSENI on 0800 0320 121 or visit the FSP webpage: https://www.hseni.gov.uk/articles/farm-safety-partnership 

2. Farm Safety Week 2020 is supported by the Farm Safety Foundation, Farm Safety Partnerships, the Health and Safety Executive, the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland and the Health and Safety Authority, Ireland.

3. The Campaign aims to highlight the serious dangers posed by farms and offers themed practical advice and guidance for farmers. This year Farm Safety Week highlights our new ‘Farm Safe Essentials’  message.

4. The Farm Safety Partnership comprises the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), NFU Mutual (NFUM), the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster (YFCU), the Farm Safety Foundation, and the Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association (NIAPA). It is tasked with assisting Northern Ireland’s farming community to work safely and tackle the problem of work-related fatalities and injuries on farms.

5. The Farm Safety Partnership’s ongoing ‘Stop and Think SAFE’ farm safety campaign focuses on the four main causes of death and injury on our farms – slurry, animals, falls and equipment (SAFE).

6. For media enquiries please contact HSENI Press Office on 028 9024 3249 or email media@hseni.gov.uk. For out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer on 028 9037 8110.

7. HSENI is the lead body responsible for the promotion and enforcement of health and safety at work standards in Northern Ireland.

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