{"id":13726,"date":"2015-02-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/dramatic-figures-show-human-cost\/"},"modified":"2015-02-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T11:00:00","slug":"dramatic-figures-show-human-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/dramatic-figures-show-human-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Dramatic figures show human cost"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse said 120 people had been killed on farms since 2008, with the 20 who died last year four times as many as the forestry or construction industries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Farming represented 40% of all workplace deaths.<\/p>\n

Safer Farms has a goal of reducing the farm death rate by 25% in six years and also the injury rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Combined this death and injury toll cost ACC $171 million a year though the social cost and the financial loss of production were hidden.<\/p>\n

WorkSafe agriculture project manager Alan McCone said injuries cost the dairy sector 600 man years each year and sheep and beef and horticulture 1200 man years a year.<\/p>\n

One in five agricultural sector workers made an ACC claim for injury in 2013 and 201 people were off work for more than three months.<\/p>\n

The dairy sector had the highest injury rates, forestry was second and dry stock third. From 2008-2013 44,288 injury claims were lodged from the dairy sector 38,983 from sheep and beef and 14,681 from horticulture.<\/p>\n

Accidents involving quad bikes and tractors each year accounted for five deaths while in 2013 the average age of those who died was 48. Of the 20 who died in 2013 19 were male and one was female.<\/p>\n

Woodhouse said experience with other campaigns told officials that reducing the death rate by 20% would be relatively straightforward. The difficulty would be in reducing the remainder.<\/p>\n

Related story: Safety starts now<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the three hours it took for the Otago launch of the Safer Farms project on February 20, 16 farm workers filed work-related injury claims with ACC, a statistic that reinforced farming as New Zealand\u2019s most dangerous occupation.\nEach year on average 17 people were killed and 20,000 people would lodge a claim with ACC for a farm-related injury and those dramatic statistics aside, the Government\u2019s focus of improving farm safety would bring the sector into line with the legal obligations of other businesses.\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":13727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t