What makes farms dangerous places to work?

What makes farms dangerous places to work? What if it is as simple as the decisions we make every day?

Agriculture consistently has the highest number of workplace injuries and fatalities of any sector in New Zealand. 

It’s the same things killing people on farm every year – quad bikes, tractors, utes and being caught in machinery.

But is it those things or the decisions we make while using them?

No one plans to hurt themselves or someone else during a normal work day but the data tell us pretty much every injury and fatality on farm is preventable. 

Sure, there are lightning strikes and other acts of God but they don’t feature in our on-farm harm statistics.

What does feature is not wearing a seat belt, being tired or rushing at work, pushing the quad or tractor to go up that last bit of steeper hill or down the greasy track.

It is the in-the-moment decisions that feature.

We can all learn by listening to those who have been through an accident or worse, listening to a grieving family and workmates left behind. 

In these stories it is clear there are usually a string of decisions, individually of little consequence but on a fateful day adding up to a disaster on the farm, leaving people wishing they had done one little thing differently.

Reducing injuries and fatalities isn’t going to be as easy as fencing off waterways.

The challenge is our mindset, the things we tell ourselves like it’s just common sense. It is these common attitudes that are our biggest hazard.

What can be done? 

As farmers we are busy people facing a range of pressures and uncertainties from production, product pricing and changing regulations to seasonal pressures, which are all sometimes compounded by shortage of people to help. 

That’s not to mention the obvious impact weather has on a farm. Pressure to get the job done can be huge, throw in some fatigue or distraction and you’ve just plucked the pin out of the grenade.

The more farmers we discuss this with the more we realise that asking ourselves a few simple questions can have a massive, positive impact.

This is not about telling farmers how to farm but getting farmers to think differently. 

It starts with a decision: I am going to think about my own safety and the safety of those around me on the farm.

We all need work to be done safely and efficiently and not treat safety as something separate or an afterthought.

When starting any task it’s about asking ourselves:

1. What could go wrong?
2. What am I doing about it? Is that going to be enough to keep me/us safe?

Making farms safer places for everyone

Beef + Lamb chairman and retiring Agricultural Leaders Health and Safety Action Group director Andrew Morrison said some farmers have stepped up and made health and safety a priority on the farm but the sector needs to lift its game further.

Former WorkSafe chief executive Nicole Rosie’s move to a role outside agriculture leaves a second director’s vacancy at the Agricultural Leaders Health and Safety Action Group . Rosie’s view is the heart of the problem lies with many people thinking “Yes, there’s a problem, everyone else can change but I don’t really think I want to”.

If that is the case we really do have some work to do and it’s a leadership question we each need to answer. What is it in our individual and collective mindset that stops us from seeing this as a problem?

If we think it’s not a problem that’s the first thing we need to change. 

When we think there is a problem and we don’t know the solution then we can work collectively on that. We can learn from other farmers, from industry, from WorkSafe, other sectors and other countries. 

Each of us can make a start by thinking about our own role in creating the change we need to keep ourselves, our families and our teams safe and about the behaviour we need to see to make it happen. 

We don’t know all of the answers but if you all come with us we will make progress, just as the freshwater accord did. 

There are two vacancies and we’re on the lookout for candidates to join our board. For further details refer to the notice below and check our website for some background https://alhsag.com/

Tony Watson is General Manager for Safer Farms/Agricultural Leaders' Health and Safety Action Group. This article was provided by Safer Farms and appeared in Farmers Weekly Pulpit, 13 July 2020