A different approach for farm safety

A North American farmer safety program has just been adopted in Australia.

The pilot for the initiative, which was actioned by the National Centre for Farmers Health, was released in February at various secondary colleges and agricultural colleges in Victoria.

The ultimate aim of the program is to help prevent workplace accidents and educate about personal protection equipment.

“The pilot was very positive. We sourced this program from overseas, where it has had an impressive impact on farming communities,” said Alex Robinson, program facilitator.

“This isn’t about replacing existing learning; it is an additional resource to enhance that younger demographic’s learning opportunity. The next generation needs reaching, and as we start to gather the results from the pilot, the feedback so far suggests some tangible results.”

The program makes a powerful emotive connection between young farmers and the workplace with plenty of interactive facets, hands-on learning and visual cues. It assists in upskilling and identifying risks.

“The program is quite plastic; we can adapt it to different areas. We will be surveying the participants and be measuring practice and follow through, to see how the learning translates into implementation in the real world. Assessing risk and making appropriate choices, being able to read the various situations for young farmers is the outcome we are aiming for,” said Robinson.

Martin Stow, founding director of BERT in Australia, said: “Programs such as these with a different angle, a different aspect that can help bridge the younger generation and help reduce agriculture workplace tragedies are inspiring to say the least. We know how popular digital tools have been in this industry with our Gannawarra Council Digital transformation. Digital tools are becoming popular for all ages. However, the young demographic has been most enthusiastic. It is all about making safety simple, accessible and we congratulate Farmers Health on doing just that in such a new dynamic.”

For more information about the initiative, go to https://www.farmerhealth.org.au/page/education.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Alina Pavlova