Ospri soon to ban use of quad bikes by workers
Government agency Ospri has banned the use of quad bikes by its workers and contractors from January because of safety concerns.
The Department of Conservation has already stopped its staff - but not contractors - from using the bikes, while Landcorp has taken 200 quad bikes off farms and replaced them with safer 70 side-by-side vehicles.
Quad bikes were involved in more than a quarter of all workrelated farm deaths in recent years, with five quad deaths in 2016. Earlier this year an Ospri worker was killed in a quad bike accident while working on a farm.
‘‘For us, that’s one too many,’’ Ospri chief executive Michelle Edge said. Ospri health and safety lead James Knapp said the organisation, which manages pest control, employed more than 300 workers and contractors in over 5.5 million hectares. ‘‘Already about half of the contractors don’t have quad bikes in their fleet because they’ve seen the way things are going and read the writing on the wall from a number of near misses.’’
Federated Farmers president Katie Milne said it made sense for Ospri to make the decision because its workers were often heading into unknown territory, unlike farmers.
‘‘It’s about training and planning rather than banning, knowing your limitations and the quad bike you’re using.
‘‘Ospri have had it [a ban] in tender documents for a while to let people adjust to doing something differently, but some of the tender prices might have to go up because you’re going from a vehicle of
$10,000-$15,000 for a quad bike to
$15,000-$28,000 for a side-by-side.’’ Knapp said some contractors had discovered the move away from quad bikes was not expensive.
Ospri’s role is to eradicate TB from New Zealand’s wildlife and farmed animals. Its annual budget is $33.7 million for ground and aerial pest control operations.