Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A FARMING COMMUNITY in Antrim is today morning the tragic loss of a young boy following a slurry accident in Dunloy over the weekend.
The locals are also hoping for the speedy recovery of the boy’s father, Bertie Christie, who was also taken ill after being overcome by slurry fumes at a friend’s farm.
The father and son had been helping out, mixing slurry, for the elderly farmer.
It is one of many tragic accidents that occur on Irish farms every year. This time last year, a man’s body was discovered in a slurry tank in Tipperary.
Both incidents come after high-profile Ulster rugby star Nevin Spence died along with his father and brother in a similar accident in county Down almost two years ago.
An investigation has been launched following the death of Robert Christie. The Health and Safety Executive said the tragedy show the stark dangers of farming.
“The facts tell us that farming is our most dangerous industry,” he added.
Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority have launched various campaigns, highlighting personal experiences of amputations, chronic injury, near deaths and illnesses from toxic slurry pit gasses.
A Galway farmer Eoin Goldrick tells his story of when he was overcome by the toxic fumes.
He said the dangers posed by any deviation from best practice in dealing with slurry tanks were massive:
It’s like running into a fire. You will be caught.
Another farmer, Noel Tierney, remembers the day in 1993 when his son Fergal died trying to save him after he was exposed to the lethal substances.
Speaking about the dangers of slurry handling, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney remarked, “The tragedy experienced by Noel Tierney and many other farm families over the years shows us that it is often the rescuer who rushes in to save a loved one that ends up being killed.
“When dealing with something that is as lethal as slurry gas, we must do everything in our power to minimise the risks and protect family, workers and animals alike.”
Slurry is a mix of waste material from animals (for example, cow manure) and water.
Farmers keep the waste under barns during the winter and then use it during the warmer months as a natural fertiliser.
Before it can be spread, the manure must be broken up and mixed with water. This usually happens in a slurry tank. It is at this point, that the killer gases are created.
In Ireland, over 40 million tonnes of slurry are stored, handled and spread each year.
Why is it so dangerous?
There are two main dangers – drowning and asphyxiation. And there are very few warning signs. The gases – at a dangerous, high level – are both odourless and invisible so they are, essentially, a silent killer.
While in the tank, toxic gases are released during the bacterial decomposition of slurry. The gases include hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide. They can all be lethal.
Hydrogen sulphide is particularly dangerous and is extremely poisonous. It affects the nervous system and even the smallest concentrations can cause death.
Hydrogen sulphide has a ‘rotten egg’ smell at low levels, but cannot be smelt at higher levels. High levels can be released when slurry is agitated.
The HSA warns that one breath or lung-full of hydrogen sulphide at this high level will cause instant death.
Highest risk when slurry is being agitated. The gases are trapped in the slurry and are released when it is mixed. Studies indicate that levels are greatest shortly after mixing commences in the tank, when slurry is stored for several months, when slurry is mixed in deep tanks, after silage effluent is added and when slurry is mixed in cold weather.
Exactly how dangerous is it?
Between 2000 and 2010, 30% of child farm deaths were caused by drowning in slurry and water or asphyxiation from gas poisoning. In the same period, 8% of deaths to elderly farmers were caused by drowning. There have been six people (including one child) killed in and around slurry tanks since 2010.
Drowning in slurry and water, and asphyxiation (gas poisoning), caused 14% of farm deaths between 2000 and 2009.
Accident statistics now indicate that drowning in slurry storage tanks is the cause of more fatal accidents than poisoning by slurry gases, according to the HSA.
What precautions do farmers take?
The HSA has a list of best practices for farmers who handle slurry. It also issued a safety DVD earlier this year. The list includes:
What else does the HSA say?
CEO Martin O’Halloran had this to say in April this year:
While the majority of slurry related fatalities we investigate involve drowning, there is concern that low levels of toxic gases emitted may have played a part. Even in very small doses these gases can cause dizziness and disorientation which can cause a person to fall into a tank or pit and drown. I appeal to farmers to follow the simple rules to stay safe while handling slurry.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Amnesty International’s condemnation of Ukraine setting up military positions in residential areas is startling but it doesn’t suit the Narrative at the moment so media stays quiet
@Brian Burns: That’s true of the media on this side of the Atlantic. Different story in the States. There have been highly critical articles published in the NYT, Washington Post etc. directed at Zelensky and Ukraine’s Military. I think that the Yanks are preparing to throw Zelensky and Ukraine under a bus.
@Brian Burns: Its a fascinating report. Cancelled on the Journal for its own personal reasons.
@Brian Burns: Amnesty International has produced dozens of reports about Russian war crimes. The author said she personally investigated when hundreds of tortured bodies turned up in suburban Kyiv after Russia retreated from the area. Just like most people do not blame Palestinians for Israels attacks, we do not spend our time blaming people who are fighting for their right to exist as a free democratic country from a ruthless and proven murderous agressor. More I’m sure could be done but the Russians have shown themselves adept at blowing up their bases so using motility is neccessary.
@Brian Burns: I heard about it on irish media so it’s hardly being kept quiet ?
@Brian Burns: Nail on the head
@Brian Burns: Very surprising considering Am Int is a tool of Western imperialism.
@Des Hanrahan: I think a certain republic planning to run for re-election might be setting stage through the media.
@Brian Burns: It’s all russias fault.
@Brian Burns: Yes,now bombing their own Nuclear Power stations,and demanding the world believe that the Russians attacked their own forces who are occupying said plant.
@Brian Burns: which narrative is that then? The one where a foreign aggressor attacks a sovereign nation and commits multiple war crimes?
@David Mulligan: Perhaps the narrative where the CIA helped to instigate a coup in the Ukraine in 2014, one where there were two Minsk agreements, where Zelensky ran an election promising to avoid war with Russia through negotiation, where the Ukrainian government cut off drinking water to ‘their people’ in Crimea, where Zelensky made extreme far right wing independent militias part of the military. This war was never a case of good versus evil. Anybody who claims that Zelensky is a hero is either uninformed or just plain incorrect. If you state a bullish opinion, it’s no excuse either way.
Why can I comment here but not on the article
reporting the strike on Gaza that killed a child?
@páraicS: typical Journal! They close comments before you can even comment on them these days. I don’t know what would happen if they left them open. Fair enough, if it’s regarding a current or open court case, in the Irish courts, but there’s no reason to do so in the article you mentioned, unless the server would be overwhelmed.
@páraicS: It’s because the pro Israel gang are falsely reporting any criticism as being anti semitic.
Ukraine isn’t going to attack their own Nuclear power plant and put their own population at risk. NATO needs to consider creating a no fly zone over the power plant and send in a peace-keeping force. Last thing we need is another Chernobyl.
@Seán Ó Briain: Yeah? You looking to start a nuclear war and the ending of all life on planet Earth?
@Seán Ó Briain: exactly why would Ukraine hit it, it’s said that Russia had an accident there and a risk of hydrogen leaking.
@Seán Ó Briain: There are many reasons for Ukr to do this, eg Ukraine is losing the war, it appears the US is getting ready to throw Zelensky under the bus, Taiwan incident over-shadowing this conflict etc. This may help to get West onside again – more money, weapons etc. Russia has no incentive tp do this.
Regarding the Ukr regime putting their own population at risk, they’ve been killing their own population in the east for 8+ years. They couldn’t care about their own population. It’s like the British government and the loyalist paramilitaries during the troubles. They were not very fond of their nationalist fellow citizens!
A no-fly zone and a NATO peacekeeping force means the end of the world or the destruction of NATO.
@Joe Bloggs: You’re a Russian bot. Your opinion is irrelevant.
@Kevin Farrell: Keep shilling for Nazi Russia man. There won’t be any nuclear war. Putin knows Russia would be leveled within days if that happened. But there is a legitimate risk of nuclear fallout if they keep putting nuclear powerplants at risk.
@Seán Ó Briain: No, the nazis are the Ukrainians.
@Joe Bloggs: wow. I hear a diet rich in Russian propoganda can be bad for your health. You should diversify.
@Seán Ó Briain: it’s very easy to call people names. In my experience, people do so when their argument is weak or non-existent. The reality of the situation is that a NATO no-fly zone anywhere in Ukraine would ultimately involve NATO forces attacking either Russian air defences in either Ukraine or Russia itself. What would happens after that is entirely unpredictable. Even if Russia were not to fight back, which is highly unlikely, all it takes is a miscalculation for the situation to escalate beyond control, and then we and all other life on Earth are dead – if not immediately from nuclear blasts, but certainly within a year when nuclear winter reduces temperatures worldwide to minus 70 degrees Celsius so that no plant life can grow.
@Eoin Clancy: Not fair man. the vast majority of Ukrainians are neither Nazis nor ultra nationalists. The Azov brigade members may be a different story. Don’t paint an entire population based on extreme tiny minority that I would bet most Ukrainians don’t like or support.
- “The global nuclear watchdog has been trying for weeks to send a team to inspect the plant. Ukraine has so far rejected the efforts, which it says would legitimise Russia’s occupation of the site in the eyes of the international community.”
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is on the south/east bank of the Dnieper river, and Kherson is on the north/west bank. The latter is what the Ukrainians may be able to recapture, but the former is probably as much of a lost cause as Crimea and the Donbas, and Zelenskyy probably knows it but I understand if he doesn’t want to say so publicly.
Still, he should greenlight an inspection, even if the decision to admit the IAEA ultimately lies with the Russian occupying forces. Another Chernobyl isn’t exactly a favourable scenario for anyone.
@David cotter: I’ve no idea what makes you think I’m blaming Zelenskyy. But I did bother to take a look at the map and follow the story. The recapture of Kherson and the defence of Mykolaiv is going to be a herculean task, but Ukraine absolutely have to do it. What’s on the other side of the river is in all likelihood a very different matter. And that’s where this nuclear plant happens to be.
@Mick Tobin: Ukraine are in the preparation phase at the moment taking out logistics and communication lines. Russia have shown their hand with their attacks in the east while Ukraine are keeping their hand close expect to see something soon.
@shligo boyzz: based on what? I really hope you’re right. Putin has been throwing the kitchen sink at this since February, so I really hope the Ukrainians can oust the invaders from their borders.
@shligo boyzz: I know, I’ve been watching this closely since April, fully expecting Kherson to be the next battlefield, since there is no way the country can have any viability without it. They’ve been making sure Russia cannot resupply across the Dnieper – which is a massively wide river incidentally – in order to cut them off at the northern bank. And meanwhile they need to keep the Russians occupied in the east or else they’ll be flocking over there.
The forces in Kherson city are supposedly not the best and not very motivated, and some of them are already surrounded, so you’re right, we’ll be seeing progress soon. But again, regarding the other side of the river, I find it very hard to see Ukraine recapturing that since it can be resupplied from Crimea. Again, the Dnieper river is the deciding factor, and that nuclear plant is unfortunately on the wrong side.
@John Kenny: trust the process it’s slow because sending troops in would be very costly. They are attacking ammo dumps and troop concentrations first.Ukraine have a bridge head over the inulets river and They have a up to a full tank battalion hiding somewhere in Ukraine and also a lot of soldiers where they will be used I’m not sure.
@Mick Tobin: Russians are panicking in Kherson the partisan movement has gone underground and in constant contact with the army also. Who knows maybe ukraines plan is to get as many Russians across the river and then cut them off I really do think something is gonna happen to sum it up Russians won’t be able to supply across the river if the bridges go pontoon bridges will not cut it.
@shligo boyzz: The foreign policy of the US is clear – keep Russia in a state of war for as long as possible to weaken the country. Ukrainian victory is irrelevant. The EU decided to become a vassal state. The slow trickle of arms is deliberate, why didn’t it come all at once, which could have made a difference? The deaths or permanent debilitation of tens of thousands of young people is an inconsequential statistic. Europe will buy LNG gas from US companies, Europe will buy arms from US companies. Ukrainian young men will die. All is good…?
Russia injured a few people and a 14 yr old during “bombardment” is the news and comments open yet is_rael bombs an open air prison kill_ng 15 including a 4 yr old child.
Sad world we live in to allow that happen without condemnation and sanctions.
So the Russians are firing rockets at a nuclear power station which they control and is surrounded by their military. This of course has nothing to do with the upcoming referendum on kherson breaking away from the Ukraine.
@Eoin Clancy: keep thinking that bud
@Eoin Clancy: read where Russian power plant staff left shortly before the attack? Tipped of by the perpetrators.
Putin must be stopped before it’s too late..
Putin is getting desperate….this is a cluster Fv€k waiting to happen
Somebody in the Russian inner circle better do something soon….
Shame on Amnesty International after what they said today.
@Damian Moylan: Why? did it upset you to find out what’s going on in east Ukraine is not the fairytale you thought it was.
@Damian Moylan: Yes, independent analysis, especially from Amnesty International is a disgrace. The EU should ban their website.
So Russia shelled their own positions that Ukraine reckons they use for storing ammunition…. right.
This report says: “Russian troops have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant since the early days of their invasion and Kyiv has accused them of storing heavy weapons there.”
This report also quotes Zelinsky: “Today, the occupiers have created another extremely risky situation for all of Europe: they struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant twice. Any bombing of this site is a shameless crime, an act of terror.”
Could we have a fact check please or is this another in the increasingly hysterical allegations of the Russians bombing themselves?
@Bramley Hawthorne: Zelensky jumped the shark a long time ago. We are stuck with a ‘one narrative’ as Boris Johnson put it. Independent media is effectively banned.
Is Zelensky saying that Russia occupied the power plant and started to shell it’s own troops/position?
have your say