AGRICULTURE remains one of the nation’s most dangerous professions, making the efforts of Farmsafe Australia, through its National Farm Safety Week initiative, so important in raising awareness and trying to turn the terrible statistics around.
As another National Farm Safety Week concludes, it’s a good time to reflect on this year’s theme – ‘Innovative, Safe and Healthy’ - and think about what that means to all of us, and how we can do our part.
Farming is a challenging occupation.
The current drought only exacerbates those challenges with a multitude of decisions having to be made every day around the likes of cropping schedules, livestock, maintenance and budgets.
The days are long and stress levels - certainly at the moment – can be high, so it can be easy to become distracted, and maybe even a little complacent with tasks we do all the time.
But, unfortunately, that’s when accidents are most likely to occur, and with so many farming activities today performed by just the one person, the risks are even higher.
Quad bikes have been a prominent offender when it comes to farming accidents in recent times.
It’s an issue that has been an important one for us at the CWA of NSW.
The organisation has been a member of the NSW Quad Bike Industry Action Group for some time.
And we’re right behind recommendations from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to improve safety around the bikes.
This is as long as they are practical and landholders are assisted in transitioning to safer systems.
We also welcome the extension by the state government of funding for the Quad Bike Safety Rebate Program.
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This rebate encourages farmers to consider the type of vehicle right for their needs, and the available safety measures.
Improving safety around our farms should be front of mind for us all.
National Farm Safety Week is a great initiative for highlighting the issues, but it’s something we need to think about 52 weeks of the year.
And it can be as simple as just pausing for a moment before undertaking an activity, to think about any potential risks and taking some steps to minimise them.
The Farmsafe Australia website also has a comprehensive collection of risk assessment tools, equipment handling guides, and safety guidelines for a variety of on-farm scenarios and activities.
It’s a great reminder of the need for us all to carry out a bit of paperwork as well in relation to our farm businesses, so we have the likes of an emergency plan and work, health and safety plan in place.
Any time’s a good time to consider farm safety because too many lives are being lost, and so many other lives changed forever.
- Annette Turner is the state president of NSW Country Women’s Association.
