That's why WorkSafe New Zealand, ACC and SaferFarms are united in promoting the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA), which came into effect just over a year ago.
According to SaferFarms, 220,000 work days are lost annually due to farm-related injuries.
WorkSafe's April 2012-March 2015 farm sector analysis shows farm assistants, labourers and agricultural workers are more likely to suffer injuries at work than self-employed people.
The recently released data show that for every 1000 employees in the agricultural sector, 20 suffered an injury requiring more than a week off work, compared with 12 out of every 1000-self-employed individuals (typically, the farmer).
WorkSafe agriculture sector lead Al McCone said the data underlined the importance of farmers talking with everyone who works on the farm - employees, contractors, and family - to ensure they are aware of risks on the farm and the best ways to manage them.
"A simple way to change the culture positively is to get workers more involved with farm decisions around health and safety.
"It's the workers who are out there in the paddock or shed seeing first-hand the conditions and potential risks."
Men more prone
Even taking into account that there are far more males than females working in the sector, men are statistically more than twice as likely than females to suffer injuries.
It is possible that employees have a higher serious accident because they undertake more high-risk physical activities and tend to be younger and less experienced.
"The most common external factor involved in injury for both genders is live cattle, followed by ground/path, almost certainly related to slips, trips and falls," Mr McCone says.
"Females, however, are more likely than males to be injured by livestock, in comparison to other factors. Males are more likely to be injured by vehicles, in comparison to other factors, than females.
"What makes these figures all the more poignant is that almost all agricultural accidents are entirely avoidable. By thinking through or talking through beforehand how you will manage the risks involved in a task, even one you have done many times before, you will be better prepared for it.
"It might be that you decide the quad bike isn't the best vehicle for towing spraying equipment, it might be that you take time to share good practice for dealing with stock, or in assessing whether it's best to drag or carry when a hillside is slippery from rain or snow. It's just a few minutes of planning, but it could make all the difference between you or one of your team making a good decision or a poor one.
"This isn't a one-off thing. It's a good idea for farmers to have regular conversations with everyone on the farm about this. Risks such as handling large animals, visitors' vehicles and large machinery will always be there, and need to be continually re-assessed and addressed.
"Then there are risks that change daily due to variables such as weather conditions or different seasonal work. It might have been safe to take the farm bike up that hill yesterday when it was dry, but it may not be today if the grass is wet."
In 2015, there were 2364 injuries requiring a week away from work (previously referred to as "severe"). Of these, 1200 were in dairying. In 2016, there were 2234 injuries requiring a week away from work, and of these, 1083 were in dairying.
"So far this year, there have been eight workplace deaths in the agriculture sector - these cases specifically involved machinery and vehicles. Vehicle and machinery incidents, handling animals and falls regularly feature every year in farm injury statistics.
"Farmers must pay attention to these critical risks, as these recent deaths have been caused by the same types of issues that have been killing and injuring New Zealand agricultural workers for years. The first step is to acknowledge that such incidents are preventable and to put in place good risk management practices to mitigate the risks that cause them."
As to why the injury rate in agriculture wasn't declining, WorkSafe chief executive Nicole Rosie says research suggests that experience is not correlated to risk.
"Farmers do the same things year after year, but they lose mobility and strength and their reaction times get longer."
WorkSafe and ACC have prepared a range of free guides for use on farms and orchards that set out the best way to identify, manage and communicate health and safety risks to family and workers.
