Federated Farmers: Pragmatic approaches to safer practices

Graham Smith

Health and safety has been a big talking point for farmers and the wider primary sector this year.

I have not talked to anyone who disagrees with the fact there are far too many fatalities and serious accidents on-farm in New Zealand.

I believe many of us do need to change our attitudes and practices towards health and safety, but in a way that does not undermine the very essence and culture of farming in New Zealand.

What we need are good, practical solutions as opposed to bureaucratic, paper-led exercises that focus on 'ticking the boxes' and filling out numerous forms.

Federated Farmers has been very active in helping to develop solutions around the biggest issues. We have undertaken workshops with farmers to develop good practice guidelines around the riding of quad bikes and are now discussing these with WorkSafe.

I chair a health and safety working group which includes senior managers from WorkSafe, Beef + Lamb NZ and DairyNZ. This is an important step in ensuring that we work more collaboratively in developing good, practical solutions.

What we need are good, practical solutions as opposed to bureaucratic, paper-led exercises that focus on 'ticking the boxes' and filling out numerous forms.

Graham Smith

As you will be aware, the Government recently passed new legislation which it hopes will improve health and safety in the workplace.

Fortunately, the Government did adopt a key recommendation from Federated Farmers to exclude the farm house from the scope of the bill even though the select committee did not recommend it.

Our policy advisor Nick Hanson has worked throughout the year on this process with WorkSafe and he discusses the new legislation on pages 10-11 and what farmers can expect come next April when the Act comes into force.

Finally, the current situation in the dairy industry is still of great concern, particularly regarding sharemilkers.

To help understand many of the problems being faced by them, Federated Farmers recently surveyed our members and the results on page 14 emphasise the challenges that lie ahead.