An innovative farm safety video created by a group of agricultural science students in Co Roscommon has racked up 5,000+ views since it was released on YouTube.
A year in the making, the video is the work of agricultural science students from the CBS Roscommon and their Teacher Louise Gallagher which was developed as a result of a farm safety project.
During their study the students realised that there was very little education on farm safety in school and so they set about creating a video project to help educate young people about the dangers on farms and how best to stay safe.
Produced by seven students – Brian Neilan, Peter McConn, Colm McDermott, Peter McDermott, Micheal Hanley, Tristian Coyne O’Dowd and Shane White – with the help of their full class, the project is a resource that can be used by secondary school teachers and students to educate themselves and raise awareness of the importance of farm safety.
Narrated by Irish Rugby Star Sean O Brien, the video includes stories from people involved in a range of farm accidents including 3rd year student James Mooney. Ella Mc Sweeney from Ear to the Ground and James Maloney from the Irish Farmers Journal also outline the common hazards on the farm and how best to avoid them.
The hugely personal stories aim to bring home the importance of farm safety and how easily accidents can happen, detailing the experience of victims of farm accidents and the impact on themselves and their family.
Speaking to FarmSafely.ie, Ms. Gallagher explained they wanted to bring a little bit of farm safety into school, adding “last year we had a group of TY students who were working on a farm related project and we were just talking among ourselves about farm related things. At the time it seemed like there was a lot more farm accidents in the media and we don’t really do anything around farm safety in schools at all, so that’s really where it came from.”
For Louise Gallagher and her students the aim was to produce a video that directly appeals to younger people, specifically between the ages of 12 and 18, and educate and inform them about the dangers of, and importance of safety on farms.
You can watch the video below and for more videos and info on the project, check out their website here.
