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Media release
13 March 2024
Farmers are being encouraged to share their first-hand experiences about reducing harm on farms, particularly when using vehicles.
Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to inspiring a safer farm culture throughout New Zealand, is urging farmers to share what they have learned from experience, and what works for them and their people.
“It’s time to put the brakes on vehicle-related harm,” says Safer Farms chair and Farm Without Harm ambassador Lindy Nelson.
“We want to hear from those who know farm vehicles best – the people driving them. We’re calling for first-hand and unfiltered accounts in farmers’ own words, sharing what they have learned from years of experience.
“We’re asking farmers to tell us about a close call or their views around farm vehicle safety. What are the key steps they’re taking to keep them or their people out of harm’s way on farm – and what needs to change.
“By farmers bringing relevant and practical knowledge and insights to the table, we can start to design harm out of the system as a sector for good.”
All stories and experiences submitted will go into a draw to win either a $500 Greenlea voucher thanks to FMG, or one of two $250 meat vouchers from Alliance Group and Silver Fern Farms.
Vehicles are almost always involved when someone dies as a result of a farm accident.
From 2019 to 2023, WorkSafe recorded 22 quad bike-related fatalities. The majority involved rollovers with steep grades and incorrect driving position the leading causes.
Harm caused by vehicles and machinery is a priority focus within Safer Farms’ Farm Without Harm Strategy - the first whole-of-sector and whole systems approach to designing preventable harm out of New Zealand’s farming systems.
The campaign is underpinned by further industry efforts under the strategy to address vehicle-related injury and deaths.
Stories and experiences can be submitted via www.farmwithoutharm.org.nz by 25 March.
The initiative is part-funded by Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ). Hawke’s Bay farmer and B+LNZ director Patrick Crawshaw is one farmer who has offered his take on farm vehicle health and safety in a video at www.farmwithoutharm.org.nz.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Sam Halstead
027 474 6065