Carlow students pick up Garda award for 'Alarm on the Farm' initiative

A group of Carlow students picked up a Community Safety Award at the 2024 Garda Youth Awards last week for their farm safety initiative. 

At St. Leo’s College in Co. Carlow, a group of students found themselves horrified by what they read in the news about farm accidents. Over 4,500 farm accidents are reported to occur in Ireland each year, and the students of St. Leo’s knew that they needed to do something; anything they could to address this massive issue.

The students at St. Leo’s came together under the banner of their local Young Social Innovators programme and created a new initiative called “Alarm on the Farm”. Alarm on the Farm was a first-of-its-kind farm safety campaign, specifically created by young people for young people.

The students set straight to work, dedicating over 180 hours of their free time to researching how and why farm accidents occur, while also educating themselves to learning about the best farm safety practices. Their tireless work manifested in the form of a farm safety booklet and a tie-in farm safety video, both of which were disseminated across the country to primary school students.

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To support the campaign, students set up social media platforms to spread their farm safety messages to an even wider audience.

Alarm on the Farm’s work has gone a long way to educating young people across the country on safe farm practices where before, there was no farm safety training being taught at all. We wish all of the students of St. Leo’s College all the best as their message continues to spread far and wide around the nation.

The National Garda Youth Awards recognise exceptional young people aged 13-21 who have positively contributed to their community.

This year’s event took place at the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise and acknowledged the remarkable contributions made in a number of Garda Divisions which included Clare/Tipperary, Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny/Carlow, Mayo/Roscommon/Longford, Laois/Offaly, Limerick, Westmeath and Wexford.

The Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris presented each of the 24 awards.