When it comes to health and safety, the thought of phoning a worker's family about a serious farm accident is always in the back of farmer Andrew Hurst's mind.
He purchased a crush protection device (CPD) for his quad bike more than adecade ago and it has saved him twice from serious injury.
"A bull was chasing my dog and flipped my bike over on top of me. It came out of nowhere in a perfectly flat paddock," Hurst said.
"Then the second time, I flipped in a swamp. I ended up lying face down and I felt it go over me. It was like someone pushing firmly on my back with both hands. Then I looked up and here's the bike back on its wheels again."
CPDs were deemed a personal choice by Worksafe in 2014, but a thorough review of the research led the health and safety regulator to take a firmer stance.
Along with Safer Farms and ACC, they now "strongly recommend" the use of professionally designed and manufactured CPDs on the back of quad bikes, which has led to a cash back offer on CPDs for farmers, provided by ACC.
To raise awareness for the cash back, Safer Farms and ACC have launched a new initiative called Control the roll.
Control the roll encourages farmers to put their safety first by taking advantage of the crush protection cash back offer that's available to them.
Photo / Supplied
Safer Farms chairwoman Lindy Nelson firmly supports the initiative and is installing CPDs on the bikes on her Wairarapa farm.
"As a wife, I want to know my husband is going to come back safely. As an employer, I want to know we have done everything we can, practically, to look after the people on our farm," she said.
With increased stress on farmers due to regulations, supply chain disruption and labour shortages; on-farm accidents are inevitable when people are overtired, overworked and under pressure.
"There is no doubt in my mind, based on anecdotal stories of survival and backed by evidence, both here and internationally, that roll-over protection gives you the opportunity to control the roll and create a space for survival," Nelson said.
ACC has a $180 (+GST) cash back offer on the Quadbar, Quadbar Flexi, and ATV LifeGuard crush protection devices. It can be redeemed on up to two devices.
