IN 20 years as an agricultural contractor, Bill Saunders has seen big changes in the way farm businesses treat workplace health and safety (WH&S), and he urges all agricultural employers to protect their staff and businesses by getting a written safety plan in place.

“In my experience, there are still some primary producers who genuinely don’t realise that they have a legal obligation to provide a safe work place, but workplace safety can be a very daunting topic to tackle,” Mr Saunders said.

While he recognises it’s not from a lack of caring, he says a small investment in preparing and implementing a thorough WHS plan in any farm business can pay off in a big way in meeting legal obligations and increasing productivity.

“Support and resources are out there to help you understand your obligations and prepare your own plan, but you need to be proactive.

“This applies equally to contractors and farm businesses. As a business owner and employer, I need to be responsible for my staff and equally if a farmer employs a contractor they are now seen as ‘workers’ in the same way as any other employee. Farmers and contractors have to work together to make sure safety is maintained.”

Mr Saunders is the owner of Saunders Ag Contracting, based at Irrewillipe East in Victoria. He employs three full-time staff, increasing to five during harvest time. He’s also president of the Australian Agricultural Contractors Association.

As a result of first-hand experience with a serious workplace incident, Mr Saunders now offers advice to farmers and employers.

“Get on the internet and understand what the law is in your state and what your obligations are in terms of a safe work place,” he advises.

“Secondly, if you find it difficult to prepare a plan yourself, I suggest using a professional advisor or independent set of eyes to look over your business and help you get the plan in place. That applies, particularly, if you run a business where there are a lot of risks and hazards.

“Thirdly, keep records of all your WH&S actions.

“You need to be able to demonstrate that you have made every effort to create a safe workplace and adequately prepare staff to do their jobs safely, and the best way to do this is to put together a formal WH&S plan.”

Help available online

There’s now additional help available for farmers, graziers and contractors who want to know about WH&S laws and put together a plan for their businesses.

Work Health and Safety Legislative Responsibilities has been prepared by the Primary Industries Health and Safety Partnership (PIHSP) and provides a step-by-step guide to drafting a WH&S plan. It has extensive links and sources specific to each state and all aspects of the workplace, such as confined spaces, noise or plant and equipment. Copies are available at www.rirdc.gov.au/PIHSP.

In recent years the Federal Government and most states and territories have harmonised WH&S requirements with the aim of reducing the complexity and variations that previously existed. The new report is a summary of the latest requirements.

Mr Saunders says he now has a full WH&S plan in place.

“New staff are inducted with simple steps such as explaining what is expected of them, making sure they are competent using equipment, and that they understand safety in the workshop and what to do in an emergency,” he said.

“Even though I’ve had the same staff for more than five years, we still often hold very short ‘tool box’ meetings to put a safety plan in place for a particular job or just to remind ourselves about a hazard.

“For example, we recently had to move some large equipment across a busy road, so a quick ‘tool box’ meeting before the job meant that everyone knew what they had to do to get the job done safely.

“In the past two decades I have only once had a briefing on health and safety from a farmer when turning up for a job but I expect this is a trend that will start to change.

“It’s actually not as hard or as time consuming as many people think, and anything that helps ensure you and your staff get home safely to their families at the end of the day is worthwhile doing,” Mr Saunders said.

 

Guiding harmonised health and safety

Protecting workers and reducing business risks in key primary industries has become easier for employers following the release of a new guide to the latest Workplace Health and Safety (WH&S) laws.

Designed as a one-stop-shop, Work Health and Safety Legislative Responsibilities has been prepared by Tony Lower from the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health & Safety (University of Sydney) on behalf of the Primary Industries Health and Safety Partnership (PIHSP*).

Mr Lower said the new guide is designed to improve workplace safety and ultimately save businesses money.

“The Federal Government, States and Territories have largely harmonised WH&S legislation over recent years, and the new report pulls together all the requirements, along with extensive web links to the information employers need to comply with,” he said.

It also provides a sample WH&S plan and a step by step guide to drafting a plan for your own business.

“The report includes case studies that clearly illustrate how businesses and workers can reduce the risk of incidents and how following the correct processes can minimise the potential for action by work health agencies if an incident does occur,” Mr Lower said.

The document is broken into five major sections covering:

• Essential definitions
• WH&S planning and action
• Relevant web links to information in each state/ territory
• A list of other national resources
• A quick user-guide checklist of high-risk issues and registers for records that must be included for specific commodities – fisheries, cotton, grains, marine, fishing and sugar. Beef and sheep are coming next year.

* PIHSP is funded by the Research and Development Corporations for the meat processing, livestock, cotton, grains, fishing and industries as well as the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.

• Copies of Work Health and Safety Legislative Responsibilities and fact sheets, as well as more information about the Partnership, can be found at www.rirdc.gov.au/PIHSP

 

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