January 23, 2019
Audits by WorkCover Queensland have found 42 per cent of dairies have no written workplace health and safety policy in place and 15 per cent have only a verbal policy.
WorkCover representatives visited 47 dairies in south-east Queensland last year, including farms in the South Burnett, Scenic Rim, Darling Downs and Sunshine Coast.
The audits also found nearly 38 per cent of workers never, or rarely, wear a helmet when riding a quad bike.
The audits were carried out under a new work safety program for the State’s dairy industry which aims to improve the capacity of business owners and managers to manage safety.
The program was launched after injury statistics revealed 117 claims for serious injuries over the past five years and one fatality; 21 per cent of claims were caused by livestock and 10 per cent involved vehicles.
The majority of injuries were related to joints/ligaments/muscles, fractures and lacerations.
Anecdotal evidence indicated the industry’s high-risk issues included livestock handling, electrical safety, quad bikes, chemicals, and machinery.
Manual handling risks, zoonotic diseases and mental health issues were also prevalent.
The audits also revealed:
- Risk assessments were rarely or never completed by 38 per cent of businesses
- Safety induction training was completed “often” by 38 per cent, and “sometimes” by 32 per cent; more than a quarter of the businesses rarely or never provided training and induction
- Only 38 per cent reported having control measures in place for working at heights
- Fewer than a quarter (23 per cent) had measures in place to manage the health and safety of visitors
- A quarter had no measures in place to manage the risk of zoonotic diseases, such as QFever vaccinations; and the same amount said no one had been vaccinated; 13 per cent had only some people vaccinated.
The next phase of the program will start in March, looking at the overall WHS compliance of the businesses, including machinery and guarding, electrical, chemicals, quad bikes, zoonoses, working at heights and safety management systems.
- More information about farm safety, is available on the WorkSafe website and Dairy Australia has developed a Dairy Farm Safety Kit which was rolled out nationally last year.
