Working with Livestock Safety Highlighted

Working with livestock safety highlighted.

A SafeWork SA compliance campaign focusing on the risks associated with livestock handling and transport will be commencing in June 2021.

High-risk areas for people working with livestock can include sale yards, abattoirs, feedlots, cattle transportation, laneways, and on-farm sale related activities.

Data from Safe Work Australia report that people and workers who handle livestock in the agriculture industry are at risk of sustaining severe injuries such as bone fractures, bruising, dislocations, crush injuries, lacerations and in some cases, death. Animals are involved in about 20% of serious injuries.

SafeWork SA has developed a guideline for handling livestock, and inspectors will be auditing saleyards, feedlots, livestock exchange facilities and abattoirs to ensure safety control measures are in place to protect workers from injury by providing adequate training, manual handling techniques and that appropriate plant and systems are provided to separate workers from animals.

SafeWork SA Acting Executive Director Mr Glenn Farrell said, 'I encourage anyone involved with livestock handling and transport to understand their responsibility and ways to make their workplace safe'.

View the original article can be found on SafeWork SA website.