The McRae brothers found working from templates - such as those in WorkSafe's Keep Safe, Keep Farming toolkit - was the best way to kick-off their health and safety plan.
"Once you have those tools, it's pretty straightforward," says Matt. "We've used FarmIQ for the hazard map and identified our risks, like steep slopes, bridges and offal pits.
"One of our risks, and probably the biggest change for us on-farm, is that public roads that run through the farm are getting much busier. We need to put out cones and signage to give drivers plenty of warning when we are shifting stock across the roads."
Matt says one of the key things is to "never take anything for granted".
"We're currently drawing up the induction plan for our new staff member," he says. "Even though he is experienced in farming, we will be familiarising him with the risks on our farm and making sure he is trained and competent with our vehicles and equipment and in the way we expect things to be done.
"That works both ways too - because he is currently employed on a block we have just leased."
He knows that land much better than we do, so we'll be working with him to help us to develop that part of the hazard map.
Matt and Joe take the same approach when contractors are coming on-farm.
"A lot of them have been doing work here for a long time and are very familiar with the farm but I make sure they know if anything has changed or there are any new risks," says Matt.
"We don't have mobile phone coverage here, so Joe and I use two-way radios to keep in touch. A lot of our contractors have them too. I touch base with the contractor beforehand and they know to get in touch when they arrive on farm and we'll go through what they're doing and anything they need to know, or I need to know, about that work."
