Enhancing Health and Safety in Australian Agriculture: Insights from AIHS

Jul 17, 2023    Posted by Brittany Cunningham

With our industry in the spotlight again this year because of accidents and injuries, the Australian Institute of Health and Safety (AIHS) has a timely message.

The AIHS is the national association for the health and safety profession, involved with policy, standards and advocacy across numerous fronts. Its chair is Naomi Kemp, a certified OHS professional and accomplished presenter and advocate.

Ms Kemp gave a thorough briefing to Australian Farm Machinery in April, touching on issues such as getting the health and safety message through to the ag sector, the role of AIHS in regard to agriculture, mitigating risk and improvements in workplace safety.

Involvement farm businesses, peak industry bodies or farmers federations

“The AIHS has a long history with supporting farm businesses, industry bodies and the farmers federations through its advocacy, education and training,” said Ms Kemp. “We have supported Farmsafe for over a decade, highlighting the importance of business and industry working together to improve the health, safety and well-being of Australian farmers.

“We will continue our support of Australian farmers through knowledge sharing of the dangers associated with work on-farm, access to education through webinars or training, networking events in regional areas and advocacy on issues affecting those living and working in remote communities.”

The responsiveness of businesses / organisations to health & safety messaging 

“Generally speaking, most businesses and workers are willing to take reasonable steps to be safe and comply with the safety laws,” said Ms Kemp. “I would say there is a minority who are reckless or negligent.

“I think the main issues are a lack of awareness and understanding of what to do which is exacerbated by limited resources (qualified people, money, time, and access to controls/equipment) to do what is needed.”

Challenges in reaching the typically male, 50+ farm worker cohort

“From my experience farm workers and owners are generally not sitting in an office all day reading emails or keeping up with social media content,” said Ms Kemp. “So we need to be mindful of how we engage not only geographically but also across generations.

“I find a physical presence and relationship building works best, because as the messenger you better understand their challenges, and in turn they have more trust in your message. But we cannot always be on the farm, so I encourage using virtual services as it can provide the much-needed qualified advice in a more accessible (and cost-effective) way.

“It’s interesting though, the 50 plus cohort is now Generation X. While they still hold the family traditions, I find they do think and operate differently to previous generations. The generational change will start to shift ‘how things have always been done’, whether that is to improve sustainability, health and safety or tackle climate change.”

Reducing injuries and fatalities in agriculture

“Agriculture, forestry and fishing continues to have the highest frequency rates for fatalities and serious injury,” said Ms Kemp. “The main mechanism of incidents are being hit by moving or falling objects, entrapment and vehicle collision.

“All of these involve machinery, structures or equipment, including tractors, quad bikes and boats. One thing is to ensure you put controls in place when working on, in or around plant and equipment, e.g. guarding, PPE, electrical isolation. Don’t take shortcuts to get the job done.”

Lessons ag can take from other high-risk professions

“Two key lessons from other high-risk industries relate to behaviours of businesses that have successfully managed to avoid catastrophic failures in high-risk environments,” said Ms Kemp.

“One is called being ‘preoccupied with the possibility of failure’, meaning they are always looking for potential problems and taking steps to prevent them before they occur. Essentially, being aware and taking action.

“The second is ‘deference to expertise’, which is about valuing the knowledge, experience, and insights of employees to foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement. In the ag sector this may also mean learning from other farmers who have innovated to reduce high-risk and prevent failures.

“And, of course, engaging external expertise is not limited to geographical borders when using accessible technologies.”

Improvements to workplace safety in general in recent years

“We are seeing a shift in thinking about business and work with safety being a key consideration and not an

afterthought,” said Ms Kemp. “This in general is epitomised by the increased use of systematic processes e.g. safe work instructions, that designs work to be safe from the beginning by implementing better controls such as engineering solutions.

“The other big change we are seeing is the awareness of mental health in our workplaces and communities. We have a long way to go when it comes to mental health, but we are already seeing industries and employers taking steps to positively impact the lives of workers and their families  here they can.”

For more information contact AIHS on (03) 8336 1995 or visit www.aihs.org.au 

Article sourced from: The Australian Farm Machinery Magazine