A DANGEROUS and potentially deadly trend which sees young people engage in farming stunts has emerged. Several videos shared on TikTok, a video sharing app, show young Irish farmers misusing machinery.
The trend has sparked widespread outrage. Farming unions and health and safety authorities are among those who have called for a zero-tolerance approach to this behaviour.
One video clip shows three young men driving tractors at considerable speed while trying to overtake each other in what appears to be a race. Other videos show people engaging in dangerous manoeuvres on quad bikes, again at speed a driver attempts to conquer steep inclines, but the quad rolls back, almost overturning.
Another video shows two people sat in a digger bucket while the digger driver rotates the arm quickly.
The Irish Farmers Association blasted the pranks as “grossly irresponsible” adding that those engaging in this behaviour should be made aware by farmers and contractors that this it is a “sackable offence”.
Local councillor Chris McCaffrey branded the trend as “an accident waiting to happen”.
Cllr McCaffrey continued, “I support the recent comments made by the Irish Farmer’s Association regarding this seriously dangerous trend on the social media app Tiktok. I have seen some of the videos that are going round and I urge everyone to avoid these idiotic stunts and to be sensible at work.
“It should be a sackable offence for any contractor or employee performing these dangerous and senseless stunts, these people are showing total disregard for their own safety and the safety of those around them, and worst of all, in the middle of a global Covid-19 pandemic they are potentially causing further strain on hospital staff if an accident, or God forbid a death, occurs because of this stupidity.
“We are coming into the busy farming season now with farmers getting ready to make silage and working around the clock, so I want to reinforce the message to everyone to stay safe and show caution at work.”
TikTok has said it will investigate the videos stating it does not allow content which encourages or replicates dangerous challenges.
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