Last week was Farm Safety Awareness week and this year’s theme was “Innovative, Safe and Healthy”. With all the management and financial pressures, we have these days, we need to remember that our first priority should be to make sure our families and workers are safe and healthy.
In 2016 there were 63 accidental deaths on Australian farms. That figure is a significant improvement on previous years, but still way too high. The leading causes resulting in death and serious injury were motorbikes, quads bikes, tractors, horse riding, animals including cattle and horses and machinery especially augers and PTO shafts.
Of particular concern is the number of child deaths on farms. Around 20 children under the age of 15 die from accidents in rural Queensland and 30 per cent of those deaths on farm are visitors. One of the biggest things we need to always keep in mind is that the farm is not just your home but also an industrial workplace. Growing up on a farm, our own children are taught the do’s and don’ts from an early age and we are always mindful of where they are, but we all need to be super vigilant when young visitors come on to the farm. The leading causes of child deaths are farm vehicles including quads, trucks and tractors and farm infrastructure such as water tanks.
At last year’s QDO AGM and Forum in Toowoomba, former Broncos and State of Origin star Shane Webcke spoke about rural workplace issues and the incidents he had encountered growing up. Shane’s father, Tom Webcke, died in a production line accident when a poorly maintained hydraulic line gave way and he was crushed. Shane said that his father’s attitude towards personal safety and care at work was also a likely contributing factor to the tragedy.
Impulsive actions have wrecked many Australian farming businesses and families when it would have only taken a few extra seconds to handle the task safely.
So while we are hammered by droughts, unfair markets and low farm gate prices, let’s not make things infinitely worse by allowing our family or workforce be injured going about our work.
