Health and safety on farms and orchards doesn't need to be complicated, says WorkSafe New Zealand.
Common sense and communication are keys to meeting health and safety requirements in the rural sector, WorkSafe New Zealand says.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 applies to all workplaces in New Zealand, including farms and orchards.
To meet the legal requirements, WorkSafe NZ said all businesses must have a health and safety management system.
Spokesperson Andrew Powell said common hazards included farm vehicles, machinery and farm equipment, pesticides and agricultural chemicals, electricity and power lines, and handling large animals.
This also covers orchards and packhouses, with their associated vehicles and machinery such as forklifts and conveyors.
Powell said the health and safety management system didn’t have to be complex, but should be aimed at identifying existing and potential hazards on a farm or orchard and putting controls in place to manage the risks they pose.
“The employer or person in control of the workplace must ensure people doing the work know about the hazards of the work and what they need to do to stay safe.”
This includes all staff, contractors and visitors.
“Managing risk is not really about documents and manuals,” Powell said.
“It’s about thinking and talking about risks and, most importantly, doing what needs to be done to stay healthy and safe every day.
“You probably already have the expertise on your farm to develop a strong health and safety system for you and your workers.
“But, it is important to remember that building and maintaining a health and safety system requires everyone getting in behind it, including the boss and the workers.”
Powell said landowners or supervisors should have health and safety rules and procedures (which can be recorded) for “risky farm tasks” such as what vehicle to use for which task, having regular check-ins when working in remote areas of the farm and when to wear a helmet.
“During an employee’s induction and when assigning tasks, tell employees about these, give them proper training and check they understand.
“Check regularly to make sure everyone’s sticking to them and ask for feedback from your workers.
“They might have great ideas for how to improve your health and safety; they’re the ones who have the boots on the ground and are doing the work.
“Farms change from day to day, and so do the risks.
“Everyone on-farm should know about the risks, how they can change with the time of day, the season of the year, or a person’s emotional or physical state.
Employers must train or supervise employees so they can do their work safely.
“Young workers, new employees, people doing new or different work and people returning to work after a long time away have a higher risk of being injured.”
Powell said the more people involved in managing risk, the more likely the risk will be managed.
“More people making a farm healthy and safe will mean fewer people will get injured or sick.
“It’s also important to review accidents and near-miss incidents.
“Learning from these could help to stop or reduce the chances of the same or similar incidents happening again.”
Powell said developing farm rules was a good opportunity to involve workers.
“These are some basic rules that you set for yourself and your workers about the way you want things to happen and the behaviours you all expect of each other.”
Rules could include:
Powell said all machinery, vehicles and equipment need maintenance so they remain safe for use.
“Mobile and fixed plant pose some of the greatest hazards on the farm.
“Ensure you’re doing maintenance regularly, rather than only addressing issues when they arise and consider daily checks – such as checking for birds’ nesting in tractors, tyre pressures and a visual inspection.”
Powell said the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 was about managing work in a healthy and safe way, and keeping employees and others safe.
“Health and safety doesn’t need to be complicated – you can make it simple and practical to meet the needs of your business.
“Think about risk before doing tasks.
“Health and safety doesn’t just happen. It takes a conscious decision to make sure all the pieces are in place to prevent people from being hurt or becoming ill in our rural sector.”
Information to help farmers manage health and safety, including the Keep Safe, Keep Farming toolkit, is available at www.worksafe.govt.nz.