Farm deaths prompt plea for caution

Five farm deaths in two weeks have raised concerns at the Government's workplace accident prevention agency.

The fatalities, in four accidents in the fortnight around Christmas and New Year, all involved machinery, the Occupational Safety and Health Service (OSH) said yesterday.

The last of the accidents happened near Mosgiel on January 5 and killed brother and sister Cody Keenan, 4, and Hayley Keenan, 19 months.

They died after the ute they were in rolled 160m down a steep slope.

Two days earlier, Motueka contractor Hudson Lex Boyes, 34, died after the tractor he was using to mow grass fell 4m into a creek.

Mr Boyes, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the tractor and trapped beneath it, said OSH.

On December 29, a Gisborne farm worker died instantly when he was dragged through a rotary hoe he was cleaning with a water blaster. The machine was running at the time.

And on December 24, a Tirau farm worker lost control of the all-terrain vehicle he was riding and was crushed.

He had been spraying weeds on a steep slope in wet conditions when the vehicle tipped on him.

All five fatalities are being investigated by OSH.

"Farm machinery and vehicles can be very unforgiving at the best of times, and tragically machinery has been the common denominator in all these deaths," said OSH agriculture adviser John Hudson.

Vehicles should always be parked across the slope, in gear and with the handbrake on, to minimise the risk of rolling, said Mr Hudson.

All-terrain vehicles lost traction in the wet and needed to be handled with extra caution.

All machinery needed to be switched off before being cleaned or repaired, said Mr Hudson.

And using a seat belt in hilly locations could mean the difference between life and death.

- NZPA