Pre-Harvest Edition

The fundamental duty for all employers to provide a safe workplace and safe systems of work, is underpinned by an expectation for all employers to ‘identify and control’ the hazards and risks in their workplace.

This duty to identify and control, is also included in the OH&S Regulations that underpin the OH&S Act.

During each farm visit delivered by a MOFS Safety Advisor, a discussion takes place around the dining table, about the importance of identifying and controlling risks on the farm associated with plant and machinery.  The second part of the visit is a walk-through of the sheds.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to know that every piece of machinery on your farm is safe and fit for purpose. This applies not only to the machinery that you take out into the paddock, but also to the equipment in your workshop (e.g. bench grinder, drop saw, drill press).

When you identify and control hazards and risks in your workplace, you must do so in consultation with your employees.

So, prior to harvest, have a toolbox meeting with your employees and ask them:

• Are the guards in place?
• Are the leads damaged or frayed?
• Are the PTO shafts in place and properly installed?
• Does the PTO have a box shroud (cover) over it?
• Is there anywhere on the machine that a person could get any part of the body caught?
• Are there any exposed cogs or chains?
• Do the Safety Stops work?

Koolonong Grain Farmers Simon Craig, Alister Murdoch an Ben Arentz have acted quickly to pull together a pre-harvest safety event with the assistance of ORM and Birchip Cropping Group.

The Pre-Harvest Event will take place at 10:00am on Friday 20, October 2023 at 400 Murdoch Road, Koolonong.

Making Our Farms Safer Advisor, John Darcy will deliver a presentation of farmers’ duties to provide inductions and training for employees. John will also discuss employees’ duties.
The presentation will then be followed by demonstrations on:

• Safe header, chaser bin and tractor operations;
• In paddock storage (mother bins, silo bags, field bins);
• Fire-preparedness and emergency response;
• Ensuring your truck is road ready with NHVR; and
• Fatigue management and basic first-aid.

The Country Fire Authority will also attend and deliver a presentation on fire-preparedness and header fires.

The Koolonong Farmers have been one of the most proactive groups of grain farmers on health and safety, and this event is indicative of the manner in which they strongly support each other.

Over the last three years, one of the most commonly cited concerns that farmers have expressed to our MOFS Safety Advisors, has been the use of mobile phones and tablets whilst operating farm machinery.

Farmers have cited instances of their employees watching Netflix movies, or playing games on their phones, whilst operating headers and chaser bins. There have also been a number of near misses, with people being distracted by their mobile phones, whilst farm machinery is moving around them.

During Farm Safety Visits, one of the issues discussed is the importance of having policies and procedures in place to address the usage of devices while working, and the need for consultation with your employees about matters that affect their safety.

Employees may need to have access to their mobile phones for emergency situations, or to be able to contact people as needed, but it is important to set out the rules for mobile usage whilst on the farm.

Farmers also need to be aware of the risks associated with GPS-guided farm machinery. As technology evolves and self-guiding tractors and machinery enter the market, collisions due to the operator not maintaining control of the vehicle, including by falling asleep, have been reported. 

Safe Work NSW have a good list of issues related to mobile phone usage that can be discussed with your employees prior to harvest.
 

‘Never You, Until It Is’ Campaign Shines a Light on Fatigue Before Harvest

Contribution from WorkSafe

Government and the Country Fire Authority are placing heavy emphasis on the importance for people in regional Victoria to have in place their bushfire-preparedness plans, ahead of a high-risk season of hot weather and dry conditions.

During Farm Safety Visits, one of the key issues discussed is the importance of having an Emergency Procedure in place for the home, and also in the farm sheds.

Emergency Procedures should be located on notice boards inside farm sheds including the workshop, machinery shed, chemical shed and shearing shed.

Emergency Procedures consist of three basic ingredients:

1. A floor plan of the main farm buildings, highlighting the location of:

• Fire extinguishers 
• First-aid kits, and the 
• Emergency assembly area 

A sketch of the farm buildings can be used. Google Earth is also an excellent means of capturing overhead shots of farm buildings, as are drones.  Here is an example of a floor plan.

To create your floor plan, you can copy the following images and paste them directly onto your overhead map image, ready for printing:

• Fire Extinguisher
• Emergency Assembly Area
• First-Aid

 

$40,000 Prosecution for Forklift Incident

An important matter for farmers that operate forklifts on their farms to take note of.
A Melbourne Transport company has been fined $40k for forklift incident, without conviction, and recently ordered to pay an additional $9,870 in costs in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

The company pleaded guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing, so far as reasonably practicable, to ensure the workplace was safe and without risks to health.

The court heard that in May 2020, seconds after a forklift drove out through an open roller door, a truck driver walked into the warehouse via the same door. As he continued along the marked walkway, the forklift reversed back into the warehouse, hitting him and crushing his left leg.

A WorkSafe investigation found it was reasonably practicable for the company to reduce the risk to health and safety by having a traffic management plan in place, and ensuring truck drivers were inducted into the workplace and advised of the plan.

It was also reasonably practicable to use physical barriers to stop people using the pedestrian walkways from walking into areas where forklifts were operating, and mirrors to improve forklift drivers' visibility.
Employers using mobile plant such as forklifts should ensure:

• A traffic management plan is in place for pedestrians and powered mobile plant and that it is reviewed and updated as appropriate.
• Pedestrians are separated from moving machinery and that an effective communication system between operators, contractors and staff is in place.
• Signage is in place and barriers are erected where appropriate.
• Visibility issues are identified and controlled, particularly if lighting is poor.
• Workers operating equipment have the appropriate high-risk work licenses, as required.
• Machinery and vehicles and regularly inspected and maintained by a suitably qualified person.

 

Western Australia:
Quad Bike Death

WorkSafe WA is investigating the work-related death of a 22-year-old worker on a farming property in the Shire of Dandaragan, north of Perth.

It was reported that the young woman had been mustering cattle on a quad bike when the bike rolled, causing fatal injuries.

WorkSafe investigators examine the circumstances of incidents with a view to ensuring compliance and preventing future incidents of a similar nature.

Tragically, the recent quad bike incident (above) occurred just days after WorkSafe WA issued new guidance on quad bikes. 


South Australia:
Safety Alert on Farm Burns

Safe Work SA have issued a Safety Alert following a recent incident where a farm worker received serious burns when using a flammable liquid to assist in the burning-off of grape vine prunings. 

The worker was required to burn large stockpiles of vine stumps and prunings. He dowsed the stockpile with petrol and lit the initial fire. After a short period of time, the flames died down and the worker attempted to pour more petrol onto the fire.

The petrol ignited and engulfed him in flames, causing serious burns to his face, both arms and his left leg.

Reminder on Safe Work:
SA Field Bin Alert

A few months ago Safe Work SA released a Safety Alert on Field Bin handles after a number of incidents in which workers were struck.