FALSE Fact: In the past two years, only one out of 600 visits have resulted in a fine! Fact: Two times as many people have died on farm than have been prosecuted for a workplace incident. Fact: You will be asked to show some things you are actually doing e.g. don’t show a shiny paperwork folder followed by bald tyres. Show that you regularly service your vehicles and they are fit for the job at hand. Fact: During a visit, if you have staff, they will be asked what practices are in place on the farm. Safety in a shiny folder on a shelf is not a replacement for good practice. Fact: If something is not right? To start with you will have a discussion about what could be improved and how – this will be written down. If something is seen to be so dangerous that it’s putting lives at immediate risk, it will be stopped immediately. This happens to make the workplace safer without imposing penalties. Fact: If you have been asked to make a change in an area, this is designed to help make your farm a safe place not to impose penalties. A fine or prosecution will only occur when farmers do not comply with a warning over a period of time and/or when serious non-compliance occurs that involves the potential for injury or death. Fact: If you have an incident on farm you are legally required to notify WorkSafe (a Government agency) which will send an inspector to see what happened and whether it could have been prevented. For example; If the incident involved your tractor, WorkSafe may contact your agent to see how regularly the machine was being serviced. If it was well maintained then its a completely different situation to a tractor in poor condition.

FALSE Fact: You don’t need to fill in endless forms! Under current laws you are only required to have the following legal documents: 1: An accident register 2: List of hazardous substances on your farm 3: A record of ‘notifiable events’ – Incidents that result in fatalities, serious injuries or illness.

Fact: Children are the future of farming and a very real part of everyday life on the farm. As farmers, we are responsible for making sure that people, including our children, are not put at risk from the work being done daily on the farm. We need to be aware of the risks that are at hand when it comes to keeping our people safe and understand that managing risks is different for adults compared to children. The younger the child, the more attention we need to pay to the risks they face as they are not aware of them.

FALSE Fact: We know that people are coming and going all the time on the farm for many different reasons, from staff to vets and family visitors. The new law states that you have the responsibility to manage workplace risk in these areas of the farm: -Farm buildings and immediate surrounding areas (regardless of whether work is happening at the time). -Other areas of the farm when work is being done. -The house on the farm is not considered a workplace. You are responsible for the health and safety of the people on your farm where they may be affected by work being carried out and managing reasonable risk you can control. What about recreational visitors? The above applies for visitors who are in or around farm buildings and surrounding areas plus anywhere on the farm work is being carried out. You need to think about things like residue chemicals that may linger after the work has been carried out and if that will affect someone if they enter that space.

FALSE Has your contractor informed you about how they’re managing the risks that they’re bringing onto your farm? They need to have a yarn to you about these. You are able to stop the operation at any time if you feel that it’s not safe practice. You also have the responsibility to tell your contractor about any risks to them while they are at work on your farm.