"We have a hazard register and had a map printed up of the farm and identified our risks and marked those up on it," says Sharleen. "But a farm is full of risks and they can change quite quickly. We all work in different areas of the farm so we are going to notice different things, so it is really important to communicate anything new to one another, and to anyone else who is going to be on farm.
"Something may seem minor — but identifying the 'small' risks is important because then you can minimise or eliminate them before they become big.
"We also discuss our systems and look at any ways we can run things differently to make things better for us and for the animals — and to help manage stress and fatigue."
The expectation that everyone brings a health and safety observation to each meeting, has proved its value.
"It's been things like low-lying branches, a tree that maybe needs to come down, a broken window on a vehicle or someone not wearing a helmet when they should have been," says Sharleen.
Most recently, a suggestion by Trinity not only resulted in an update to the farm's emergency procedures, it led to them gaining a new chainsaw to use on the farm too.
"I had updated our emergency procedures, covering things like the emergency meeting points, emergency services numbers and important local numbers — like our near neighbours — into our emergency register," says Sharleen.
"Then, at our next meeting, Trinity's health and safety suggestion was that we put a copy of all those contacts up on the wall in the dairy office. I thought that was a great idea and acted on that."
Shortly afterwards, Sharleen attended the Dairy Women's Network (DWN19) conference in Christchurch. PeopleMAD, which works with farmers to improve their HR, productivity and systems, was running a competition in conjunction with Husqvarna, to win a chainsaw package including a full set of size-specific personal protective equipment for a female user.
"To enter the competition, people needed to tell a farm safety story, good or bad," says Sharleen.
"I was really proud of Trinity's suggestion so submitted that, and we won the chainsaw and safety equipment."
Sharleen is now using a chainsaw for the first time — and she's been tackling some of those low-lying branches and is planning to use it in clearing gorse to make way for some native planting.
"The Husqvarna rep demonstrated how to use the chainsaw safely and Aran and Trinity have both done chainsaw safety training, so they have been training me in safe use and supervising me," she says.
"I was delighted to win — and very proud to have Trinity's suggestion recognised and to have a team that's strongly engaged in health and safety."
