Pilot programme to cut farm accidents

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ACC is setting up a pilot safety analysis programme in the South Island to try to cut the high toll of farm accidents.

Every week last year about 122 farmers were injured in the South Island while they were at work, ACC said today.

To help farmers understand the causes of accidents, ACC has teamed up with FarmSafe and AsureQuality to run the programme.

The service is called Human Factors in Farming and involves rural advisers confidentially reviewing near-misses or accidents, directly with the farmers involved.

After visiting the farm and talking with the farmer, the rural advisers then send the farmer a report with recommendations to prevent similar incidents occurring in the future.

Agriculture programme manager Peter Jones said the pilot aimed to reduce the number of accidents on farms.

"Farmers commonly work with large, powerful machinery; handle unpredictable animals; and work long hours in all kinds of weather, often alone," Mr Jones said.

"These factors combined mean there are many hazards on a farm which can lead to a farmer being injured or worse."

The new service could help farmers prevent injuries by helping them understand how particular decisions or choices they had made contributed to the accidents.

Mr Jones said ACC staff would be on hand to talk to farmers about the service at the South Island Field Days.

He said preventing injuries would be all the more important from April when experience rating was introduced. Experience rating was a system which provided for discounts on levies for businesses with a better claims history, and loadings for those with a poor workplace safety record.

- NZPA