Prioritising safety this harvest

Grain growers are being encouraged to implement strategies to ensure their 2016 harvest is a safe one.

Grains Research and Development Corporation, GRDC, has backed calls by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety for the prioritisation of the welfare of all those involved in harvesting this year’s crops.

GRDC manager of grower services Alan Umbers said harvest was a testing time for the nation’s growers.

“It is important that growers remain firmly focused on planning for a safe and successful harvest, especially after having to contend with numerous challenges during the 2016 growing season, from frosts in the west through to flood- ing and waterlogging in the southern and northern cropping regions,” he said.

Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety director Dr Tony Lower said now was the time to make sure growers and their most important resource – the people who work with and for them – were safe and up to the tasks ahead.

“Growers experience intense pressure and fatigue during harvest, and there is usually a higher number of inexperienced seasonal workers employed – all factors that expose the industry to a heightened risk of danger,” he said.

Further information about harvest safety is available by calling the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety on (02) 6752 8210.