Stanley Vale Merino Stud - News & Views

Farm safety doesn't cost, it pays

Posted July 29, 2015 17:03:48

"If you know you're working safely, you also know you're working productively," David Sadler says.

The Launceston-based mining leader and safety consultant, says that means the farm sector still has a huge opportunity before it.

In any week, across Australia the average amount of time lost reported from workplace injuries in agriculture and fishing adds up to almost 1,000 weeks.

Mr Sadler said people underestimate low probability risks, and quality and safety are connected.

"One of the things I learned when I was supplying wheels to the Japanese was how precise they were," he said.

"Things had to be ordered, there had to be a standard, they had to be done right.

"And if you do those things correctly, you know if you maintain equipment correctly or you run the process correctly, you not only have a productive culture, you get more product out, you get better quality product out at a lower cost and a safer environment.

"So I don't think there is any trade off between safety and productivity."

Safety myth-busting is part of senior health and safety consultant Phillip John's mission and he said cutting corners to save time is a myth.

Mr John said he was excited to be rolling out a new layer of education in Tasmania to stop farming from being the most dangerous occupation.

The three-year Tasmanian Government-funded program includes a new free and confidential health and safety service for Tasmanian farmers and their workers.

Mr John said he was lucky to be able to work with farmer to try and de-mystify and simplify managing safety.

"The Farm Safe Program is about raising awareness of farm safety issues, encouraging discussions, and providing farmers with the support they need to improve health and safety," he said.

"If we want our rural sector to continue to grow and prosper, then safety's an extremely important part of achieving that objective".

Topics: occupational-health-and-safety, sheep-production, cressy-7302

Original author: Rosemary Grant

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