2017 July – Director’s Blog – Target Zero!

Target Zero!

As farm safety week comes to an end, I have been pondering again why the agriculture, forestry and fishing fatality rate has remained unchanged over the last decade, ranging from 16.0 to 17.8 (per 100,000 workers) since 2003[1]. This is despite substantial and significant advances being made in other areas which previously experienced high rates of workplace death. For example, mining’s rate was 12.4 in 2003 and dropped to 4.4 in 2015. Transport and warehousing also dropped from 14.6 in 2003 to 6.6 in 2015. Our work with farmers reinforces this experience of high rates. One only needs to ask a group of farmers if they know someone seriously or fatally injured from a farm accident and usually all hands in the group go up. Further questioning on how many people they have personally known, sadly often reveals two hands with 6 or 7 fingers raised, often including children deaths. In my experience, there is no other occupation that shares this high rate of fatalities at work.

In positive news, we have managed to reduce tractor roll overs—previously the highest cause of death on farm—through roll over protection (ROPS) and improved manufacturing of new tractors. More recently, we have seen the quad bike become a major cause of on-farm and recreation fatalities and replace the tractor as the likely cause of farm injury and death on farm. This too has now seen some state governments provide rebates for crush protection or contribution towards purchasing a safer alternative to the quad bike.

Any death is one too many.

Farm fatalities are a major problem all over the world regardless of whether it is a developed or developing country. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, agriculture employs over a billion people globally[2].

What can we do?

One country—Sweden—had a national injury prevention program running during 2009-2013 and managed to have zero fatalities in 2013[3]. Sadly after the program ended it came back up and in 2015, seven (7) adults were killed and 3 children.

We have been using the Worksafe 15 minutes Farm safety check [4] in our work with farmers for years, with positive feedback on the changes they have made. It is simple, quick and gets you started. Good business relies on good people who are healthy, well and safe.

Other industries have done it – let’s make farming next.

Target Zero – zero incidents, zero deaths, zero harm.

Kind Regards,

 

Dr Susan Brumby
Director – The National Centre for Farmer Health
Clinical Professor, Deakin University

The National Centre for Farmer Health can be contacted via email: ncfh@wdhs.net or phone: +61 (03) 5551 8533.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

 

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References

[1] Safe Work Australia. (2016). Work-related traumatic injury fatalities 2015. 

[2] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2011). FAOSTAT-Trade. Countries by commodity. Retrieved from FOASTAT

[3] Lundqvist, P. (2016, 10 March, 2016). [Sweden Farm Fatalities]

[4] 15 Minute Farm Safety Check

Farmer Health eNews July 2017

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2017-05-28 Listen: taking care of farmers’ health, Aussie style – Irish Farmers Journal

From left: David Meredith, senior research officer, rural economy, Teagasc; Maura Canning, farm family chair, IFA; Diana Van Doorn, researcher, National Centre for Men’s Health, Carlow IT; Susan Brumby, National Centre for Farmer Health, Australia; and John McNamara, health and safety specialist, Teagasc; at the conference on farmers’ health in Teagasc Oak Park.

On a visit to Ireland this week, Prof Susan Brumby from Australia’s National Centre for Farmer Health explained how issues similar to here are addressed down under.

Speaking at Tuesday’s conference on farmers’ health at Teagasc Oak Park, Prof Brumby drew several parallels between the health of farmers in Ireland and in Australia. In both countries, they are older than the general population and tend to go see the doctor later than other people when they have a complaint.

“We do have a health safety net, but it’s not always easy to access because of distance and pressure to keep the family farm going even when the farmer is sick,” she said.

What farming people really value is people who can walk in their shoes, who know the industry

The National Centre for Farmer Health works to remedy this situation by involving farmers and other members of the agricultural industry. It runs farmer health training sessions for a range of professionals, from agricultural advisers to feed merchants, and raises awareness through community events such as fun runs.

“What farming people really value is people who can walk in their shoes, who know the industry,” said Prof Brumby, who has lived on a sheep farm herself. However, she warned of the risk that people familiar with farming might reinforce stereotypes the wrong type of message, such as “She’ll be all right, mate”, or “It’s just a flesh wound.” This is where the National Centre for Farmer Health steps in.

Read more: 2017-05-28 Listen: taking care of farmers’ health, Aussie style – Irish Farmers Journal

2017-05-24: Australian farmer health specialist Susan Brumby – Irish Farmers Journal Podcast

Teagasc organised a conference on farmers’ health this Tuesday where researchers said farmers have poorer health than their active lifestyle would suggest, especially in terms of heart disease. There, Thomas Hubert met Professor Susan Brumby of Australia’s National Centre for Farmer Health. She said many problems were similar in our two countries.

Click here to listen to the podcast: 2017-05-24: Australian farmer health specialist Susan Brumby – Irish Farmers Journal Podcast

2017-05-13: Sewing up the city-country divide to support farmer health – Invisible Farmer ABC Open

Melbourne fashion week was a defining moment for Leila Sweeny McDougall.

As a young fashion design graduate with a farming background, Leila held a show at Melbourne fashion week, to raise money for farmer health.

‘We lost heaps of money, because the people that came wouldn’t pay the entry fee. They didn’t see how farmers had anything to do with it.’

Frustrated, Leila set about changing attitudes towards agriculture and supporting farmer health.

“More needs to be done about people understanding that if farmers didn’t do what they do, city people wouldn’t live the life they do,” she says.

Growing up on a merino farm at Walcha in NSW, Leila has experienced farmings ups and downs, impacts of drought and mental illness, and the lack of support.

Now farming at Tatyoon in Victoria, Leila and her husband Sean founded ‘Live Rural’, a charity promoting agriculture and supporting farmer health.

Their annual event, ‘Mellow in the Yellow’ raises money to support the National Centre for Farmer Health.

Read more: 2017-05-13: Sewing up the city-country divide to support farmer health – Invisible Farmer ABC Open

2017-05-12: Speaking the unspoken – RM Williams Outback Magazine

A new research project is tackling one of the most taboo subjects in the bush.

Story by Amanda Burdon  Photo Neil Newitt

Rural suicide rates are double that of metropolitan areas and men in remote Australia are up to three times more likely to suicide than their urban counterparts. These figures meant very little to Jen Irrgang until April 3, 2013 – the day her larrikin husband of 25 years, Mark, became one of the statistics.

“Mark was an ordinary bloke. There were no signs, nothing,” says Jen, of Sedan, north-west of Adelaide. “Even his best friend didn’t know he had been suffering from depression. I am still shocked, years later. You never come to terms with it. You just come to accept it.

“Suicide is a very difficult subject for people to broach. At first, people asked me did I want others to know how Mark died. Right from the outset, we never covered it up. There’s no hiding it and I am not ashamed of Mark. It’s a tragedy, that’s all.”

Still, there’s no escaping the unanswered questions that Jen and her two teenage daughters were left with – especially why a popular, sociable man who could “talk the leg off a table” could not tell anyone he was hurting. “That’s the hardest thing,” she says. “I just wish he’d spoken up and asked for help.”

Jen is bravely sharing her family’s heartache courtesy of a National Centre for Farmer Health research project that aims to reduce the stigma associated with suicide, curb suicide rates in rural Australia, and provide more effective support to those affected. The Ripple Effect gives those who have been touched by suicide an opportunity to share their experiences and insights, to help others and themselves. It is hoped that their short videos and deeply moving postcards – recalling suicide attempts and the distressing fallout of suicide but also delivering messages of hope and support – enable participants to see that they are not alone.

Click here to read more: 2017-05-12: Speaking the unspoken – RM Williams Outback Magazine

2017-05-06: Rural Bank gives farmers health check ups at Agfest – The Examiner

Farmers visiting Agfest were reminded about the importance of putting themselves before livestock, machinery and crops.

Rural Bank, in partnership with the registered nurses from National Centre for Farmer Health, checked farmer’s body mass index, cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose levels and more.

Read more: 2017-05-06: Rural Bank gives farmers health check ups at Agfest – The Examiner

Parliament of Australia Media Release – Hearing Health Focus in Victoria & South Australia

1-3 May - Melbourne Shepparton Adelaide Hearings[1]

Click here to view as a PDF with links.

 

Farmer Health eNews May 2017

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2017-4-19: New test to reveal pesticide exposure – Deakin Research News

Dr Jacquie  Cotton – The National Centre for Farmer Health

A recent study provides new information that may help researchers monitor the effects of common agricultural chemicals on farmers’ health.

Concern over how the regular use of pesticides may affect the health of farmers is not new, but a lack of data specific to the Australian context has hampered efforts to develop evidence-based guidelines.

Now, the results of a study by the National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH), a partnership between Deakin University’s School of Medicine and Western District Health Service, will help develop a new test to monitor farmers’ exposure to pesticides and provide valuable longitudinal data about Australian farmers and their chemical use.

The study, funded by the Shepherd Foundation Victoria, followed 64 farmers from different regions and farming types over 12 months, testing them each month for levels of cholinesterase enzymes.

Read full article: 2017-4-19: New test to reveal pesticide exposure – Deakin Research News

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