Farm safety and compliance made easier with new app

A new health and safety app built by farmers specifically to manage agricultural safety has been launched by OnSide in New Zealand. The company says the app will help to make compliance easier with the country’s new Health and Safety at Work Act, effective 4 April 2016.

The OnSide app gives farmers a practical tool to manage compliance, containing all the key elements of a health and safety plan now required under the new legislation.

Farmers can develop their own plan by working through a prepopulated list of risks overlaid on a satellite map of their farm. Users can map out a farm boundaries and use photos to easily identify and show risks.

“Farmers can expect scrutiny around health and safety compliance to ramp up as the result of the Act. There was a real need in the industry to have an easy and cost-effective way to meet these requirements, and this is what we have created OnSide to provide,” said OnSide Chief Executive Ryan Higgs.

Not only is the app designed to help reduce incidents on farms, but it provides a simple way to make employees and any visitors aware of farm risks and how to manage them. 

Contractors and visitors who enter the farm will be prompted to sign in on a smartphone as they cross a virtual ‘geofence’. They will then be presented with any risks to review and acknowledge before signing in.

Risks can be updated by the farmer in real time and visitors can report new risks or incidents on their phone as they pop up. All information is stored in the cloud, which avoids the need for paperwork, and the system can be used offline when in areas with poor mobile coverage.

“We’ve been listening to farmers [and] collaborating with health and safety experts and leaders in the rural sector, as well as our technology partner, Jade Software, to ensure OnSide meets farmers’ needs. We’ve spent months conducting on-farm research and have run a trial with 50 farmers as we’ve brought our vision to life,” said Higgs.

When there are emergencies, the app also allows anyone on the farm to quickly access instructions in real time.

During April, farmers can access the OnSide app for free by visiting www.onside.co.nz.

Images courtesy of OnSide.