A GRAIN Producers Australia webinar into farm safety has highlighted the importance of getting outside expertise to cast a fresh set of eyes over farm business occupational health and safety procedures.
GPA chairman Barry Large said getting fresh eyes over farm policies was a good way of identifying potential problematic risks.
"All these things can help create a safer farm environment," Mr Large said.
The 'When the Safety Regulator Arrives' webinar was hosted by Andrew Barrett, Chief Connector at Safety on Tap, who was joined by Wendy Black, Workplace Health and Safety, Queensland, John Darcy, Victorian Farmers Federation and Lance Harris, Safework NSW.
Ms Black encouraged farmers to take the first steps to improving farm safety, saying the process was not as difficult as many thought.
"Health and safety does not have to be complicated, the first step is to make contact with your workplace health and safety regulator and ask for assistance," she said.
"We'd rather come to your workplace to assist with health and safety than have to come to your workplace following an incident where some has been injured or killed."
Mr Darcy said evidence and data were key ingredients of success on the farm safety front.
"Evidence that shows the employer has identified and controlled risks, evidence that demonstrates maintaining a safe workplace; evidence of training and instruction, such as inductions; and evidence of consultation with workers about matters that affect their safety are all critical," Mr Darcy said.
"With the right advice these things can be achieved at a farm level," he said.
Mr Barrett said farmers were often surprised how important simple changes could be.
"Small changes to manage risk in your planning, training or communication can be embedded into everyday work quite easily," Mr Barrett said.
"There is also an enormous amount of help available to farmers to improve health and safety, no different to taking advice from a GRDC webinar or your agronomist," he said
GPA Training's Paul Daniel, who also runs a farm business in SA , said the webinar this week provided an excellent presentation from an expert panel.
"This webinar is a great starting point for any farm business tackling safety or, for the more developed, a chance to benchmark yourself against commentary from regulators," Mr Daniel said.