Health and Safety in Australian Agriculture - Linking Research,Data and Action

ABSTRACT

Almost every week the rural media provide farming communities around Australia with information about health and safety hazards on farms. The results of the increasing research and data collection are being made broadly available. But are we just adding yet another worry to already stressed farmers, farm workers and farm families by this approach?

Until recently, there was little information or support available to farmers to assist them to identify the hazards on their own workplace, to assess the relative risk to health and safety of the many hazards identified, or to plan adoption of effective solutions to reduce risk based on the cash flow of the farming enterprise.

Managing Farm Safety is a program which has been developed through integration of data findings, research findings, farmer responsibilities under OHS Occupational Health and Safety legislation, farm management practicalities, farm cash flow and farmer aspirations. The program will be incorporated into rural education, training and extension services.

The services to farmers and farm families include access to training in farm OHS management, provision of a management tool or kit which includes and on-farm audit, record of education and training for employees, record of farm chemicals usage, and information about risk reduction solutions are available, their relative effectiveness and the cost of each option. The program will be provided in commodity specific format as more of the major industry groups in Australian agriculture move to adopt the approach.

This paper describes the data flow system used in the development and maintenance of this program.