Health and Safety Adoption from Use of a Risk Assessment Document on Irish Farms

This article describes levels of implementation of occupational health and safety (OHS) controls on a sample of Irish farms following completion of a risk assessment document (RAD) made available as part of a statutory code of practice (COP) for the agriculture sector. The article describes the legislation mandating the COP and the operation of a prevention initiative (PI) among key stakeholders to develop and promote farmer use of the COP and RAD.

RADs were collected for farmers (N = 475) and the number and type of OHS controls listed for action were tabulated. A farm audit of OHS standards and of implementation of controls listed for action in the RAD was undertaken among a randomly selected sample of farms (N = 94) where the RAD was completed.

The study data indicates that farmers used the RAD to a limited extent, and that their focus in its use was on identifying physical rather than organizational controls. An association was found between farmers who actively implemented controls and positive OHS standards. Farm OHS standards were also associated with farmer attitude to OHS, farm enterprise, farmer age category, and work time needed to operate the farm.

Overall, the study data suggests that standards of farm management are a crucial determinant of OHS standards. The study data also indicates that having knowledge of required OHS controls does not ensure implementation. Development of social learning in groups is considered as a significant means of increasing OHS farm adoption.