Hi-tech safety training targets aspiring farmers
A South Canterbury school’s reputation for producing talented young farmers saw WorkSafe pick it to trial a new virtual reality (VR) learning module aimed at halving the number of fatalities on farms.
Eleven of the 43 people who died while working in New Zealand’s agriculture industry between January 2018 and March 2020 were in Canterbury, according to statistics from the Government’s workplace health and safety regulator.
With one in 10 victims under 20, WorkSafe has developed a learning module which uses VR to teach future farmers about the risks that must be at the forefront of their minds while working.
‘‘We could halve the rate of deaths by doing simple things,’’ WorkSafe engagement lead Al McCone said.
‘‘Rather than relying on people to get it perfect every time, we should create some soft landings. Safety isn’t the absence of accidents, it’s the ability to fail and fail without incident.’’
Geraldine High School’s year 11 agriculture class, with the VR headsets on, were dropped into a dairy shed or onto a quad bike as McCone tasked them with navigating the dangers they faced using a remote.
He said the school’s ‘‘really good reputation’’ for producing strong Junior Young Farmer teams – under the tutelage of its head of primary industries, Sarah Foley-Smith – enticed him to trial the learning module there.
The module targeted aspiring farmers in high school because they had not yet been ‘‘indoctrinated’’ into the unsafe practices operating on some farms, he said.
‘‘The great thing is, this generation is not afraid to speak up and they’re really environmentallyaware.
‘‘There was a generation of people on farms who didn’t feel free to speak up [about safety] and that’s something we’re trying to encourage kids to do. If we can get that one message across, about speaking up and using high-level controls, that’s enough.’’
McCone said even ‘‘slips, trips, falls, and twisted muscles’’ had a huge impact with Kiwi farms losing about $160 million each year because of injured workers.
‘‘It’s a cost to a farmer and the economy.’’
Former GHS student Nicole Wakefield-Hart, 18, who started working on a merino stud farm in Marlborough in 2020 but had a crack at the module while in Geraldine, felt McCone’s class was ‘‘very important’’ and made her feel safer heading back to her new job.
‘‘It’s given me things I can take away.’’
Student Hannah White, 17, said the module had ‘‘opened our eyes to how many things can go wrong and the proper way to handle them’’.
Fellow student James Rowley, 18, said it was ‘‘good’’ building a relationship with WorkSafe.
‘‘They want to work with them [farmers], they’re not wanting to make money out of you.’’
Nicole, Hannah, James, and 16-year-old Robert Furrer were Junior Young Farmer finalists this year, with the girls taking home the People’s Choice award.
‘‘Rather than relying on people to get it perfect every time, we should create some soft landings. Safety isn’t the absence of accidents, it’s the ability to fail and fail without incident.’’ Al McCone, WorkSafe