Thirteen of the 19 people who died in farm accidents in the State last year were either under 15 years of age or over 65, the Health and Safety Authority said yesterday.
Publishing its annual report for 2003, the HSA said the number of people in these age groups who die on farms each year is disproportionate to the numbers within these age profiles officially working in farming.
This indicated that many older people were killed or injured while helping out on family farms.
HSA chief executive Mr Tom Beegan said the message about dangers on farms particularly needed to be sent out at this time of year, when school holidays start.
"There is nothing more horrific than finding your own child dead on your own farm," he said.
The number of calls to the HSA's information phone line doubled to 24,000 last year.
In all, some 10,704 workplace visits and inspections were carried out in 2003, including 4,615, (or 43 per cent) in the construction sector.
Some 76 prosecutions were taken for breaches of health and safety legislation in 2003, including 15 in the higher courts for more serious offences. A further 33 cases were awaiting hearing at the end of 2003.
The Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Frank Fahey, said he was not happy that enough was being done by the HSA to tackle the levels of stress, bullying and violence in the workplace and he had asked the body to look at these areas.
He said he constantly came across people who complained to him about stress resulting from their work environment.
These included young nurses working in A&E departments who were under such pressure because of "the absolute inability" of management to deal with the issue. They had no option but to "go sick", Mr Fahey said.
Prosecutions by the HSA last year included one against Oran Pre-Cast Ltd of Deerpark Industrial Estate, Oranmore, Co Galway, which was fined 500,000 at Castlebar Circuit Court after a worker died when he fell off a roof while trying to replace a damaged roof gutter. The fine was reduced to 100,000 on appeal.