Tractors accounted for more deaths in Australia than farm bikes in 2016.
There were nine tractor related on-farm deaths last year, figures from the University of Sydney Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety show. Mobile-plant machinery also caused nine, while quad bike incidents resulted in six deaths.
The Primary Industries Health and Safety Partnership (PIHSP) released a report in 2015 mapping the Work Health and Safety (WHS) risks for people working in primary industries.
diIt found that while there have been improvements over the past 20 years with annual deaths in agriculture falling from around 150 per year to 60 a year, the industry is still one of most dangerous in Australia.
The dangers associated with the use of tractors, and ensuring users are well-informed as to how to stay safe, is a cause general manager of The Farm at Byron Bay, Johno Hunter, takes seriously.
“Tractors are one of the biggest killers on farms, and we have tractors on our site,” Hunter says.
“I believe we have an obligation to provide safety workshops and I’m passionate about trying to stem the flow of accidents and deaths on farms.”
The Farm is a 34 hectare property that produces beef, pork, eggs and vegetables, supplying other on-site businesses including the Three Blue Ducks restaurant.
It focussed on tractor safety last month.
Responding to the rise in numbers of hobby farmers in the region, Hunter identified the need for an Introductory Tractor Safety Workshop at The Farm to educate part-time farmers, as well as people learning to operate tractors for the first time.
The first workshop was held in early 2017 and included safety demonstrations led by experienced tractor sales manager Robert Wruck.
Wruck says complacency is the greatest contributing factor to tractor-related deaths.
“There are tractors out there that are 50-years-old, and people are still operating them. Ultimately issues will arise with these machines, and more importantly these old tractors aren’t fitted with modern safety equipment.”
He suggests ensuring your tractor has a roll frame, that power take-off shafts are covered, turning off the tractor before detaching hydraulic implements, having a counter weight at the back when attaching a front-end loader, and always wearing a seatbelt.
“Most of the deaths in recent years have come from roll-overs.”
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