Farming.

[Farrandeelin]

There was a law up until 25 yrs ago that said tanks could only be 6 ft deep, but it was abolished. tanks now are usually between 10-15 ft deep.

You would stand no chance in that kind of depth. Terrible tragedy.

I could never understand this. To me it always seemed obvious to require the wire mesh used in concrete spaced every three or four feet so if someone did fall in at least they could stand up again. Then again I suppose it's the fumes that is probably the real danger.

How could you mix it then?

Get a mask on. It's an awful tragedy though for the family involved. RIP.

[snoopdog]

What a tragedy, supposedly it all happened trying to save a bloody dog.
May they rest in peace

[Tony Baloney]

The father in law said he was down at his pit yesterday and a mouse ran under his feet and keeled over within about 2 seconds from fumes.

[Hound]

Reportedly there was 4 foot of slurry in the pit in this tragic case

[Denn Forever]

A very sad event. RIP.

Reports saying it was toxic gases, Hydrogen Sulphide and Sulphur Dioxide that were to blame.

The tragic thing is the at lethal concentrations, Hydrogen Sulphide disables the olfactory nerves so you can't smell it any don't realise the danger.

[johnneycool]

A very sad event. RIP.

Reports saying it was toxic gases, Hydrogen Sulphide and Sulphur Dioxide that were to blame.

The tragic thing is the at lethal concentrations, Hydrogen Sulphide disables the olfactory nerves so you can't smell it any don't realise the danger.

I'd have worked in and around farms and slurry pits etc from when i was 10 or so and when you look back at the things you did, it was pure madness, from hanging out the back of tractors with PTO shafts going full belt, on top of loads of bales skimming power lines on the way, buckraking silage on tractors with no roll bars and the likes.
Crazy stuff, but things have improved and the farmers I used to work around have had to improve things from covering over slurry pits when possible and the likes but farming by its nature will never being without danger, and knowledge is a bit part of that. My wee lad goes to a rural primary school and they get all sorts of leaflets, calendars etc from the HSE all the time.

[southdown]

Johneycool, was saying exactly the same thing yesterday. We got up to all sorts of stuff on our farm when we were young, and its only now that you realise just how dangerous it was and how dangerous a farm can be. 

[Gaaboardmod3]

Lads, I just deleted a few posts there. Now is not the time for that sort of discussion/argument.

RIP to all who lost their lives in this tragedy.

[J70]

Lads, I just deleted a few posts there. Now is not the time for that sort of discussion/argument.

RIP to all who lost their lives in this tragedy.

Fair enough, It's your board. However, the title of the thread should be changed if it is now a sympathy thread and not a farming discussion.

[Hereiam]

I remember when the the ole man would be be buckraking the silage we would lie under the face and the silage would come down over the top of us. Around this time a few deaths happened with kids geetin trailers of silage tipped on them. That put an end to our messing about. Its sad to say but it takes something like this to happen for other people to take notice and do something about it.

[Gaaboardmod3]

Lads, I just deleted a few posts there. Now is not the time for that sort of discussion/argument.

RIP to all who lost their lives in this tragedy.

Fair enough, It's your board. However, the title of the thread should be changed if it is now a sympathy thread and not a farming discussion.

No, it's fine to continue as a farming thread, I'm just saying we need to use our cop on and be a bit sensitive for a couple of days.

[J70]

Lads, I just deleted a few posts there. Now is not the time for that sort of discussion/argument.

RIP to all who lost their lives in this tragedy.

Fair enough, It's your board. However, the title of the thread should be changed if it is now a sympathy thread and not a farming discussion.

No, it's fine to continue as a farming thread, I'm just saying we need to use our cop on and be a bit sensitive for a couple of days.

Good enough.

[give her dixie]

Every time I hear about a death involving a slurry tank, I remember back to when I was a bout 8 or 9 and was at a farm with my father in Eglish, about 10 mile from home. My father delivered animal feeds and while he was at the farm delivering the feed on a Saturday afternoon I played with a young lad around my age.

Anyhow, when my father had finished up, I said goodbye to the lad and we went straight home. We were only home 10 minutes and the phone rang. It was the lads father calling to ask had we seen his son. My father told him that we had been playing, and when he had left, the boy was still in the yard.

Anyhow, a few hours later news had come through that a child had been killed in a farming tragedy in Eglish. Fearing the worst, my father made a call and sure enough, it was the boy that I had been playing with. A manhole cover over the slurry tank was loose, and while walking over it, the lad went straight down into the tank. He didn't stand a chance.

The memory of that day is still etched in my head, and I can remember it well. My father was at the wake, and it turned out that we were the last people to see him alive that day. Needless to say, the family never got over it, and in some small way, I can understand what the Spence family are going through.

Slurry tanks are death traps, whether it is by falling into them and drowning, or by the gasses they emit.

May the men who died on Saturday rest in peace.

[Tony Baloney]

This might start a big push from the HSE for sensors like happened with CO detectos when those two young fellas died in Portrush. Would be a few hundred quid well spent.

[heganboy]

The missus and I were chatting about this a couple of weekends ago when there was a death on the sand dunes.

Remember as a kid the 2 big warnings were the dunes and the slurry pits?

There would be a couple of deaths that would remind us all and scare the crap out of us, and then 5 years later the same would happen again, and another cycle of kids would learn. We were never allowed be at the slurry pit working alone, with the risk of the fumes, and the dunes were a no go area under any circumstances.

Sad that the cycle has gone around again...