Free health and safety training is being rolled out across Ireland to help farmers better manage risks for workers, visitors and vulnerable people on farms.

Agricultural organisations have launched a nationwide health and safety training initiative aimed at farmers hosting social farming activities, open days and public events. The programme, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, combines six on-farm sessions with ten online training events running through August and September.

The initiative, Health and Safety for Social Farming, Farm Open Days and Events, responds to a changing risk environment on Irish farms. As more farms welcome participants, visitors and community groups, traditional farm safety procedures must increasingly account for people who may be unfamiliar with agricultural hazards.

Social Farming Ireland supports farms that provide structured activities and experiences for people from vulnerable groups. The organisation is working with local development partners to deliver the training, which focuses on practical risk identification and measures that farmers can implement when opening their land and facilities to others.

The programme includes training in Rathcormac, County Cork, alongside sessions in Kildare, Wexford, Roscommon, Galway and Cavan. The practical workshops are facilitated by Jim Dockery of Towra Livestock Services and cover risks including livestock handling, machinery, working at heights, slurry and open tanks, as well as the additional safety considerations associated with children, older people and other vulnerable visitors.

The strategic importance of the programme lies in extending farm safety beyond the farmer and the immediate workforce. Farms are workplaces, homes and increasingly venues for community activities, meaning a single risk assessment may need to consider workers alongside visitors with different levels of mobility, experience and awareness of agricultural dangers.

That challenge remains significant in Ireland, where farming continues to carry one of the country's highest workplace safety risks. Teagasc's Farm Safety Week 2026 highlighted Health and Safety Authority data showing that farming accounts for around 4% of Ireland's workforce but 40% of workplace deaths, underlining the need for practical risk management and behavioural change across the sector.

For farmers, the initiative also offers a business continuity benefit. Better safety planning can help farms hosting events and social farming activities identify hazards before incidents occur, reducing potential disruption while creating safer environments for visitors and workers.

The programme is also expected to produce a new guidance resource, How to Have Safe Open Days and Events on Farms. According to the initiative's organisers, the guidance is intended to address a gap in Ireland around health and safety planning for farms opening their operations to members of the public.

The broader significance is that farm safety is increasingly moving from compliance towards proactive risk management. Training programmes can address physical hazards, but they can also encourage farmers to reconsider established working practices and identify risks before an accident forces change.

For the sector, the lesson is direct: as farms diversify and welcome more people onto working agricultural sites, health and safety planning must evolve with them. Practical training and clearer guidance can help ensure that farms remain productive businesses while becoming safer places for everyone who works, visits and participates in them.

Source: Ad-hoc News / Agriland / Teagasc / Nenagh Guardian