Keeping Farm Workers Safe
Occupational safety and health laws in Western Australia apply to all workplaces, including agricultural properties. Under these laws, self-employed people, employers and employees, or a person or people in control of a workplace, have responsibilities to make the workplace safe. […] All employed workers - full time, part time, casual or contract - have the right to a safe and healthy working environment and to be protected from any hazard that may exist at the workplace.
This July is the perfect opportunity to review the health and safety protocols in place on your farm, as it is Farmsafe Australia National Farm Safety Week from the 16th - 22nd. As a farm manager, use this week to make sure your policies are up to date and that you are doing everything possible to make farm work safe for everyone.
Some areas of farm safety for you to consider include:
- Child safety
- Farm machinery guarding
- Workshops
- Grain handling
- Cattle handling
- Tractor operation
- Quad bike operation
- Stockyard risks
- Emergency preparedness
- Shearing safety
You can find more resources regarding these issues on the Farmsafe website.
If you are a farm manager whose responsibility it is to perform health and safety inductions for new workers, then it can be helpful to utilise a tool such as the Farmsafe Induction Tool to make sure farm work will continue to be carried out in a safe manner even when new employees are introduced.
Another great resource for assessing risk on your farm is the Agricultural Safety and Health Checklist, which provides information about Western Australian law as well as a step-by-step checklist that farm managers can follow to assess the most common hazards on agricultural properties.
You can find out more about inducting farm workers by reading our last blog.
Carrying out health and safety checks and making sure that all workers, children, and visitors are safe at all times on a working farm can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be! Making use of the resources available to you as a farm manager can make the job much easier. Take some time this National Farm Safety week to make sure your farm is as safe as it can be.
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REF 152333, Junior/Entry Level Farm Hand, Lake King, WA
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REF 151532, General Farm Hand, Mingenew, WA
General Farm Hand based in Mingenew, WA. Mixed property - 5,500ha cropping and 3000 sheep, working alongside the owner and one other permanent member of staff. Farming and Agricultural background experience essential i.e. airseeder and header operation.