NATIONAL Farm Safety Week came to an end on July 26, but farm safety is an ongoing issue and should be at the front of mind all year round. Risks to health and safety need to be proactively identified, managed, reviewed and improved.
Even though National Farm Safety Week has come to an end, I want to share some practical steps you can take if you operate, or are otherwise responsible for, safety on a farm:
- Have a written safety management system (“Plan”) for health and safety risks around the farm. There is plenty of publicly available information available to assist. For example, the “Serious about farm safety” guide developed by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and agricultural industry representatives. https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/agriculture/health-and -wellbeing-at-work/seriousabout-farm-safety
- Review and update the plan regularly to ensure new or changing risks have been captured.
- Share the knowledge. Make sure those visiting and working on the farm know the risks and what you require of them to ensure they stay safe (e.g. are your workers being inducted adequately?).
- Keep written records – of inductions, incidents, safe work methods, hazardous materials registers, policies and procedures etc.
We all have a role to play in the safety of ourselves and those around us.
Until next week – keep it legal!
Katie Caldow
kcaldow@walkerpender.com.au
*The legal information in this article is of a general nature only and not intended to be legal advice to rely upon.
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