It's National Farm Safety Week and SafeWork NSW is urging the 81,000 agricultural workers in the state to undertake work the safe way or 'no way'.
In 2013, there were 149 reported agriculture industry safety incidents in NSW. Concerningly, this number more than doubled to 358 incidents in 2022.
There have also been 34 agriculture industry related fatalities in NSW from 2022 to now, at least 10 of which have involved a quad bike or side-by-side vehicle. These include:
- On January 8, in Goohli, a side-by-side vehicle being driven by an adult and two child passengers were mustering cattle when the vehicle rolled into a dam, causing the death of one of the children.
- On 31 January, in Narromine, a 51-year-old man died after being ejected from a moving side-by-side vehicle on a cotton farm.
- On 1 February, 120km east of Tibooburra, a 32-year-old female contractor died when she was thrown off a motorbike.
While tractors, quad bikes, side by side vehicles and machinery are responsible for most farm related fatalities, auger intakes and harvesting machinery are also a major cause of harm and injury. In May this year, a worker was carrying out maintenance on an auger and removed the guard while the auger was still in drive. His hand became entangled, resulting in amputation of four fingers and partial amputation of his thumb.
SafeWork NSW has a free advisory service that can help farmers create an action plan to cover safety issues and qualify them for a $1000 safety rebate that can be used to make farm improvements.
SafeWork says "It's the safe way or no way". Make it your way too, say "no way" to:
- Children under 16 years' operating adult sized quad bikes,
- Riding quad bikes and side by sides without wearing a helmet,
- Allowing side by side vehicles to be used for joyrides and passengers not wearing helmets or seatbelts and passengers riding in the rear cargo tray,
- Unguarded machinery, augers or other equipment, and
- Inadequate separation of people, product, mobile plant and equipment when loading and unloading livestock, bulk goods, hay and grain.
Learn more about safety on farms.
Head of SafeWork NSW Trent Curtin said:
"The agriculture sector accounts for one-in-five workplace deaths in NSW every year."
"Business owners must make sure their workplaces are safe workplaces."
"It's important to maintain your plant and equipment, consult with your workers about safety and make sure they have the right gear to do the job safely."
"This Farm Safety Week we want to put the focus on making sure that farming work is done safely, and our workers make it home at the end of each day. Remember it's the safe way or no way."
