Farm Safety course tutor

Farm safety tutor Murray Holt teaches the correct use of farming equipment. Picture / Amos Chapple

Name: Murray Holt
Age: 37
Job title: Farm Safety course tutor, lifestyle block course designer and tutor
Working hours: 8am-5pm but variable and some weekend work
Employer: Agribusiness Training, other training providers
Qualifications needed: common sense, people skills, practical and/or farm background, qualifications in adult education, moderating, writing assessments and first aid

What do you do?

I tutor three days a week because I also do course designing work. We have a large variety of clients - farmers, prisons, schools, and regional councils - for courses including tractor, ATV, farm bike and chainsaw safety. Depending on whether you're taking a theory or practical course the day can be quite different. You might be organising to take tractors some place or a PowerPoint projector if it's a theory day.

Why did you choose this job?

It sort of snuck up on me. I was sharemilking and the man that owns this business came to do a case study on the farm. We got talking and he said there was an opportunity there for me. I'd already been doing some consultancy with some Japanese and had been to Japan. I was a registered Agriculture ITO assessor. Early on I did ITO courses and then I employed ITO cadets and students and from that became an assessor.

Why is the job important?

I ask people why they do the courses and they say because of OSH [Occupation, Safety and Health] and compliance. Many of them are parents and I always ask them, when their children go to work, whether they want to know that their employer is keeping them safe. Knowledge and prevention is better than cure. I understand how insulated people can get on farms. Complacency on farms is a big one but to keep themselves and their staff safe they should make best practice an everyday thing. Tragedies happen time and time again. If you do things correctly - using all sorts of machinery - you won't have as many problems.

What's the best thing about the job?

You meet a lot of interesting and neat people. I enjoy working with lifestyle block people, identifying what they want and need and putting courses together for them. There are a lot of lifestylers out there, they need help and they are hungry for information. A lot of what we do is interactive stuff. It's rewarding because they get a lot out of it. Some things we take for granted - it may be a little thing - but it is significant to them and can save them a lot of time and effort. They say 'if I'd only known that yesterday or last week'. The worst thing about the job - and probably any job - is the red tape and compliance. There's a lot of involvement behind the scenes. We get moderated by the Education Department and the ITO.

Have you seen any odd things in the job?

Crikey, yes. Some of the things people have done you wonder how they've survived. They push machines beyond their capacity. New Zealanders have grown up with the idea of improvising and we've got to be careful we don't lose that but they've got to be sensible and safe. There's a happy middle ground between being very productive and putting themselves and their machines outside safety zones. Hindsight can be too much of a teacher.

What are your strengths?

I've come from a practical background and have a belief in what I'm doing. I've learnt from some of my mistakes and I can draw on personal experience. One of the good things about being a tutor is that you are always learning and picking up ideas. A tutor should be looking at things and evaluating all the time. I'm always looking ahead and trying to progress. I enjoy what I'm doing and can see myself here for a while.

What makes a good tutor?

You've got to listen, be observant, adaptable and know your topics. No situation is the same as any other. To be a tutor in the agriculture world you've got to have a practical background. Farmers want to know that you've done the hard yards and know where they are coming from.

What's your job hunting advice?

You need the qualifications in adult education and so on and you should put your CV together showing what you can do, research the training providers and see what they offer.