National Farm Safety Week – digital help available to improve farm safety
Fonterra Communications. 23 July 2021 02:48 AMFrom a health and safety point of view, farms are unique. While other industries share some of the hazards of farming such as plant, chemicals, and working with animals, the combination of hazards found in farming can make it a dangerous industry for workers.
There have been more than 600 fatal farm accidents in the past decade according to Farm Safe Australia, and National Farm Safety Week – held this week – aims to raise awareness of farm safety issues and tackle some of the challenges faced by farmers.
Farm Source People Specialist, Jozzy Bevin, says farming has a very high-risk profile and addressing the safety culture on farm can be extremely challenging.
“Farmers need to manage a raft of issues to provide and maintain a safe and healthy work environment for every person on their property, including workers, contractors, visitors and their families.
“They are responsible for critical tasks including the maintenance of safe work systems, chemical storage, staff welfare, and the training, instruction and supervision of all staff, contractors and visitors,” says Jozzy.
Adding to this burden, farmers need to provide documented evidence they have done everything reasonably practicable in all these areas.
“Creating a workplace culture that guarantees compliance with all relevant legislation can be overwhelming for many farmers,” says Jozzy.
“One way that farmers can address workplace compliance is using a digital system such as Safe Ag Systems – a safety platform which is simple and straightforward to use.”
Compliance presents everyday challenges for Matty Grant and Renata Cummings, who manage 450 cows and three full-time staff over two dairies in Scotts Creek in western Victoria.
Renata and Matty were early adopters of the Safe Ag System and now have a place to record everything that is time-stamped every step along the way.
“I’m not a massive fan of paperwork, and I’ve had a lot of trouble getting staff to fill in all the paperwork as well. We’ve always been safety conscious, but we weren’t necessarily recording it in the best way,” says Matty.
“Being a digital system, we don’t seem to have a lot of trouble getting people on their phones. It’s straightforward for them, and I can also check things quickly.”
Naroghid farmer Fiona Dobbins has experienced first-hand the angst a workplace safety issue can create.
“Using the Safe Ag System, we were able to get all our documents together and have everything on our phone.
“It has really reduced the stress levels and means it’s one less thing to worry about,” says Fiona.
Fonterra’s Farm Source team can set up a program tailored for your individual farm, including a paper-based version if you prefer. If you would like assistance, reach out to your Area Manager who can put you in touch with your local Farm Source People Specialist.
For more information on how to keep your farm safe, check out the Farm Safe website .
There have been more than 600 fatal farm accidents in the past decade according to Farm Safe Australia, and National Farm Safety Week – held this week – aims to raise awareness of farm safety issues and tackle some of the challenges faced by farmers.
Farm Source People Specialist, Jozzy Bevin, says farming has a very high-risk profile and addressing the safety culture on farm can be extremely challenging.
“Farmers need to manage a raft of issues to provide and maintain a safe and healthy work environment for every person on their property, including workers, contractors, visitors and their families.
“They are responsible for critical tasks including the maintenance of safe work systems, chemical storage, staff welfare, and the training, instruction and supervision of all staff, contractors and visitors,” says Jozzy.
Adding to this burden, farmers need to provide documented evidence they have done everything reasonably practicable in all these areas.
“Creating a workplace culture that guarantees compliance with all relevant legislation can be overwhelming for many farmers,” says Jozzy.
“One way that farmers can address workplace compliance is using a digital system such as Safe Ag Systems – a safety platform which is simple and straightforward to use.”
Renata Cummings and Matty Grant
Compliance presents everyday challenges for Matty Grant and Renata Cummings, who manage 450 cows and three full-time staff over two dairies in Scotts Creek in western Victoria.
Renata and Matty were early adopters of the Safe Ag System and now have a place to record everything that is time-stamped every step along the way.
“I’m not a massive fan of paperwork, and I’ve had a lot of trouble getting staff to fill in all the paperwork as well. We’ve always been safety conscious, but we weren’t necessarily recording it in the best way,” says Matty.
“Being a digital system, we don’t seem to have a lot of trouble getting people on their phones. It’s straightforward for them, and I can also check things quickly.”
Naroghid farmer Fiona Dobbins has experienced first-hand the angst a workplace safety issue can create.
Fiona Dobbins
“We had an incident on our farm, and the whole process with WorkSafe was quite overwhelming.“Using the Safe Ag System, we were able to get all our documents together and have everything on our phone.
“It has really reduced the stress levels and means it’s one less thing to worry about,” says Fiona.
Fonterra’s Farm Source team can set up a program tailored for your individual farm, including a paper-based version if you prefer. If you would like assistance, reach out to your Area Manager who can put you in touch with your local Farm Source People Specialist.
For more information on how to keep your farm safe, check out the Farm Safe website .