Safer Farms is calling on farmers to share their tips and tales on farm vehicle safety.
“It’s time to put the brakes on vehicle-related harm,” Safer Farms chair and Farm Without Harm ambassador Lindy Nelson said.
“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.”
Nelson said 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”.
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, with incorrect driving position the leading cause.
Harm caused by vehicles and machinery is a priority focus in 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.
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.
Stories and experiences can be submitted via www.farmwithoutharm.org.nz by March 25.
The initiative is part-funded by Beef + Lamb NZ.
Hawke’s Bay farmer and BLNZ 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.
