Teaming up to reduce the work toll | Rural

People are farming's most important resource. Most on-farm accidents, which can destroy a farmer's career, are caused by human error.

Federated Farmers has teamed up with ACC to cast light on this issue.

Rather than thinking she'll be right, because accidents can happen to anyone, Federated Farmers wants farmers to look at how they can be safer at work and to make changes if they have a near miss.

The Federation's National Board Member and health and safety spokesperson David Rose is conducting radio interviews to raise awareness about the factors which lead to on-farm accidents.

Research shows tiredness, time pressures, poor maintenance of equipment or bad choices are common factors.

Taking the time to plan ahead, to maintain equipment or leaving an irritable cow for another day, are all good choices which could prevent an injury, saving time and money in the long run.

The cost of farm-related injuries and deaths to ACC was nearly $65 million last year.

The cost to the farmers and their families is also significant, particularly if the injury ends a farmer's career on the land.

Preventing workplace injuries is even more important since ACC introduced experience ratings last April.

This system provides discounts on levies for businesses with a better claims history and loadings than those with a poor workplace safety record.

Smaller businesses, with levies of less than $10,000, can receive a no-claims discount of 10 per cent, provided they've had no weekly compensation or fatal injury claims over the previous three years.

As farm revenue comes at fixed points in the year, farm safety failure can cause a shock to a farmer's cashflow. This is a compelling reason to have a professional and effective workplace health and safety culture with key policies and processes in place.

It will not just save premiums, but slash the social and economic effects radiating from an incident.

The reality is injured farmers cannot work, which directly affects farm productivity. Improving agriculture's health and safety record does not just save millions in direct premium costs, but helps reduce agriculture's share of a much larger indirect social and economic cost.

In an effort to glean a better understanding of the factors leading to injuries on farms, ACC has carried out research as part of a programme called Human Factors in Farming.

Using techniques developed by psychologists from Scotland's Keil Centre, ACC has been reviewing near-miss situations and accidents to discover what we can learn about them to share with others. The aim is to prevent them happening again and potentially being more serious next time.

Case studies of preventable accidents will be published in rural publications until February.

Farmers can request a Human Factors in Farming review, a free service run by FarmSafe and AsureQuality on behalf of ACC.

Rural advisers confidentially review near-misses or accidents, with the farmer involved.

After visiting the farm and talking with the farmer, the rural advisers then send the farmer a report which breaks down the incident and highlights the key factors which contributed to the accident or near-miss situation. Recommendations are provided to prevent similar incidents occurring in the future.

To receive help on reviewing a recent farm accident, contact FarmSafe on 0800 545 747 or AsureQuality on 0508 00 11 22.