The ‘Making Our Farms Safer’ project has been delivered by the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) with funding supplied by the Victorian government. An evaluation report compiled by Quantum Market Research the VFF is the most recognised organisation to have a voice on health and safety and that safety advice is more credible.
Victorian Farmers will continue to have access to the dedicated ‘Making Our Farms Safer’ website. The VFF will continue to hold free Farm Safety Visits and the delivery of Farm Safety Briefings at regional locations across Victoria, and will remain available to support farming groups and organisations in a speaking capacity.
The VFF are about to embark on a new safety initiative focusing on older farmers.
In 2023, six of the farming workplace fatalities on Victorian farms involved people over the age of 60, with two incidents involving farmers in their mid 70’s and one in their 80’s.
Farmers aged over 60 accounted for more than 40 per cent of the farming fatalities recorded on farms nationally, and older farmers and farm workers are heavily over – represented in safety statistics.
The biggest difference in farming as compared to other industry sectors is that farmers will continue working well beyond what is considered ‘retirement age’ for people working in other industry sectors.
The VFF intends to duplicate the success of their previous safety campaigns by forming a committee consisting of older farmers and their adult children to develop the content for the campaign.
The biggest factors in farm related incidents nationally arise from tractors and quad bikes – when combined with age, the risks are magnified. Falls from heights – particularly from ladders are known cause of fatalities and disability – there is an increased risk of injury when climbing on and off machinery due to the shift of weight required and the variable terrain.
The campaign will also target the difficult topic of succession planning.
Succession planning on farms has a strong correlation with farm safety – it can lead to mental health problems, work place bullying and distraction – which can have adverse impacts on all members of farming families and farm workers.
Sometimes the motivation for safety advice revolves around ‘I don’t want to get sued!’
There are multiple areas of law that overlap health and safety and create serious financial risk.
If an employee is injured on your farm they are entitled to lodge a WorkCover claim for compensation. WorkCover claims cover all reasonable medial and like services, payments of weekly compensation, all associated legal costs, rehabilitation costs, lump sum payments for permanent impairment and potential common law claims.
If a subcontractor is hurt on your farm they would lodge a WorkCover claim through their employer, or alternatively (i.e. if they do not have access to WorkCover) could lodge a claim for damages against your business. This would, in most instances, be covered under public liability insurance. Where the WorkCover scheme covers a claim for an injured contractor’s employee, WorkSafe can pursue legal action to recover the costs of the claim if they believe that it is attributable to the shortcomings of the host employer. Such actions are also often managed through public liability insurance.
Both of these avenues for injured workers to pursue compensation are civil in nature. What many farmers do not appreciate is that with OHS we are talking about criminal law, with fines that cannot be insured against and potential criminal convictions, including possible jail.Many farmers are not aware of the differences between the civil and criminal risks that they are exposed to, or what their insurance can cover them for. If you manage safety properly you put yourself in the best position to manage all of these overlapping areas of legal exposure - It is a win-win-win scenario.
