Rose Training talks safety and work on farms. 

In this workplace healthy and safety blog, Rose Training’s Serge Rossignol takes us through the importance of keeping safe whilst working on farms, proving that WHS isn’t just for the office space! Farms play a big part in the culture and economy of Australia, so it’s important we understand and appreciate that a safe farm is a good farm.

Have you visited a farm lately? You may even know someone who lives on a farm! We’re now in National Farm Safety Week 20-24 July, which is held each year to raise awareness of farm safety issues across Australia and this year’s theme is “Safe Farms = Better Productivity”.

Farmsafe Australia members are united in efforts to reduce the deaths and injuries associated with health and safety risks on farms. The theme continues to highlight the importance of business and industry working together to achieve the Farmsafe mission/ vision statement of increasing the well-being of Australian farmers through improved attention to health and safety.

Farm Safety Week has been running successfully for the past 17 years and has provided an opportunity for Farmsafe Australia to address farm safety and workplace health and safety with a national focus. So far, there have been 24 recorded fatalities across Australia in the last six months from Jan 1 to June 30, 2015.

Even non‐fatal injuries can have major cost implications on things such as delays in harvest, damage to equipment and downtime needed to recover from injuries. We want to see every farm across Australia take steps to improve workplace health and  safety each and every day. Other practical steps that farmers can take to have safety as a core value include:

Have a safety plan in place that identifies potential hazards and takes action to fix them. 

Make sure all new workers, including contractors, are inducted onto your property.  

Always be on the look‐out for new hazards and fix them as soon as possible.

Set clear safety procedures for risky work.   

Make sure everyone who works on the farm understands and uses your safety procedures. 

Have an emergency plan in place in case there are any incidents.

If you want to know more about workplace health and safety, please give us a ring on 3038 3048, or talk to Jessica Rose on LiveChat! While you are at it, give us a ‘like’ on Facebook, too!