Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries to work in due to the wide variety and combination of hazards. Agriculture also involves a wide range of different types of machinery, animals, plants and products, working in both indoor and outdoor environments under widely varying geographic and climatic conditions.
Good safety practices can be the difference between a successful and rewarding business and a disaster.
More than a third of the world’s labor force employed in the Farming and Agriculture industry. While many agricultural businesses are highly mechanized and operate on a large scale, others are very labor-intensive.
A rural workplace is a place where primary production and land management is carried out including:
It is a workplace even when work is not being actively carried out. People who live at the rural workplace including children and other family members and visitors who might be around plant are owed a duty of care by the person who conducts the business or undertaking.
Tractors are associated with a major proportion of injuries and deaths in agricultural production and maintenance, especially in rollover and run over incidents.
Older tractors warrant special attention as they are often not fitted with up-to-date safety equipment, such as rollover protective structures (ROPS) and seat belts.Every year quad bikes are a major cause of death and serious injury in rural workplaces with many incidents associated with rollovers.
Quad bikes are the leading cause of accidental death and injury on farms.
Quad bikes are not All terrain Vehicles. They can easily roll over and cause fatal crush injuries, even when ridden by safety-conscious people.
Essential Quad Bike safety elements include:
Undertake a registered quad bike training course
Farm owners and managers need to protect their workers.
Under the OSH Regulations, owners and managers need to make sure that workers and other people on the farm are not exposed to risks to their safety and health.