Monday 24th May 2021

Advancing Qld farmers safety. 

The president of the Queensland Farmers Federation (QFF), Allan Dingle, has described working in the agricultural sector as one of the most dangerous due to the many hazards involved such as sun and heat exposure, chemicals, noise, dust, working with heavy plant and machinery, working alone or in remote locations and working with animals. 

According to statistics compiled by AgriFutures Australia and AgHealth, there were a total of 58 on-farm deaths in 2020. Quad bikes and tractors caused the highest number of fatalities, 48 of the cases involved men, eight of the cases were children under the age of 15, and 6 of the total number of deaths were in Queensland. He says the Queensland Farmers' Federation remains committed to promoting and advancing safe workplaces to turn these statistics around. They believe that co-funding grant opportunities would provide significant benefits for farmers and other businesses to implement safety measures such as crush protection devices on quad bikes, raising the height of distribution lines, fitting powerline markers, upgrading switchboards and devices to boost mobile phone coverage for remote workers and training.

A similar scheme operates successfully in NSW, and the QFF has written to, and will continue to engage with, the relevant Qld Government Minister to progress opportunities to improve Queensland's agricultural sector workplace health and safety.

Read the full article on the Queensland Country Life website.