More to be done on safety
Farmers better than ever, but long way to go
❝They’re in an environment where the hazard level is increased. — Jamie Cupples
THERE is a pretty big difference between your average family farm operation now versus 20 years ago when it comes to safety.
Farmsafe Queensland executive director Jamie Cupples said while there was certainly some risk for dodgy operators with changes to workplace safety laws, most farmers had wised up to the fact that people were one of their most valuable resources.
The new laws, which came in late last year, offer the option of criminal responsibility for company directors in the case of workplace manslaughter among a raft of other minor changes.
While cases would still be tried in an industrial relations court rather than a criminal court, directors could still face a manslaughter charge.
Mr Cupples said while it was wise for any company director to be aware of the changes, there was nothing that would specifically affect farmers and those who would be affected would have to be blatantly ignoring safety issues in the workplace.
“Agriculture is in many ways a high risk industry, as is mining and construction,” he said.
“The jobs we do can carry a lot more risk than if you’re an office worker in an office environment, but that’s just the nature of the beast and the work that’s done.
“There are probably only around 70,000 people in Australia who undertake farming activities, so the ratio of incidents to the number of people is quite high.
“They’re in an environment where the hazard level is increased but we do as much as possible to minimise exposure to that risk.”
He said even though farming regularly came up in
the top three most dangerous industries, statistics on workplace deaths and injuries had lowered thanks to awareness and technological improvements, but there was plenty more work to do.
While family farming operations had less resources for safety, they also valued their people most and suffered the greatest in the event of mishaps.
He said the average age of farmers was on the rise as well, meaning there were plenty of people with slightly slower reaction times out there doing the hard yards at greater risk.
NEW PENALTIES:
Category 1: serious breaches where a duty holder who recklessly endangers a person to risk of death or
serious injury.
■ Individual as a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) or an officer: up to $600,000 / five years jail
■ Individual e.g. worker: up to $300,000/ five years jail.
Category 2: failure to comply with a health and safety duty or electrical safety duty that exposes a person to risk of death, serious injury or illness.
■ Individual as a PCBU or an officer: up to $300,000
■ Individual e.g. worker: up to $150,000.
Category 3: failure to comply with a health and safety duty or electrical safety duty.
■ Individual as a PCBU or an officer: up to $100,000
■ Individual e.g. worker: up to $50,000.