App launched to help farmers stay safe

Farmlands chief executive Peter Reidie. Photo / Supplied

A new app designed to help New Zealand's primary sector improve its poor health and safety record has been launched.

Farmlands chief executive Peter Reidie told The Country Early Edition's Rowena Duncum he hopes SafeFarm will help make safety "relatively easy" for farmers.

"It's really around making people aware of the things they can actually do to make their farm safer and then to systemise it and make it a lot easier for them because there is a burden of it and we've got to take responsibility for it."

The agriculture industry is New Zealand's most dangerous to work in, according to WorkSafe New Zealand.

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Figures show that as of August 2018, nine people lost their lives working in the sector this year – seven of those people died as a result of quad bike or vehicle accidents.

SafeFarm creates a single site for farmers to record core data such as hazards and their risk mitigations, incidents and the learnings from them and emergency equipment locations, with the objective of making farms safer.

Farmers have been really receptive to the app so far says Reidie, with feedback from initial trials praising its simplicity.

"If you can use a mobile phone you can use this app."

Eventually the app will include safe visit tools, so farmers or growers will know who is on their farm/orchard and that they are aware of hazards. This will result in better management of not only their own safety but that of visitors as well.

The SafeFarm app was created by Farmlands and software company FarmIQ and can be downloaded by Farmlands shareholders free of charge here.