Issue Date:  -  Friday, 11 July 1997

Farmsafe publication

Labour Relations Minister Graham Kierath has called on all farmers to get a copy of a new booklet on farm safety to help make their property safer.

Mr Kierath launched "Safety on the Farm" today as part of the Government’s continued drive to cut the rate of occupational injury and disease in the workplace.

The booklet provides farmers with a valuable resource for spotting and assessing safety hazards and guidance on how to make the necessary improvements.

"The agricultural sector has the fourth highest rate of occupational injury and disease of all industries and accounts for a quarter of all workplace deaths," the Minister said.

"Although there has been some improvement over recent years, there is still a lot of work to be done.

"This booklet will help. It is organised in a user-friendly checklist style and covers 24 topics.

A major emphasis is on areas like tractor safety and there is detailed advice on tractor maintenance and jacking procedures."

The booklet also contains several new sections including animal handling and hay baling and extensive re-writes of past information.

Mr Kierath said the booklet would be available from WorkSafe Western Australia, Farmsafe WA and the WA Farmers Federation, who have all played an important role in distilling this important safety advice into one handy booklet.

"I want to see every farmer in WA with a copy of this booklet because it gives life-saving information," he said.

"It is not a matter of telling farmers how to do their job, but giving them information about how to do things in the safest possible way.

"After all, farmers have a wealth of knowledge about their property and farming practices so protecting a farmer, and employees, from injury or death is an investment in the farm."

WorkSafe Western Australia recently gave $85,000 to Farmsafe WA to help with their farm safety programs and part of these funds are going towards providing workshops for farmers across the State where "Safety on the Farm" will be used as a manual.