Farm Safety

Farm safety plays a critical role in the health and wellbeing of farmers, their families, crops and animals.

Use this windmill to help you discover some of the most common safety hazards on a farm and tips on how to address them.

Click on the blades of the windmill to explore a topic.

First Aid

  • Basic first aid training is essential for all farm workers.
  • First aid skills can save lives
  • Farmers have higher injury rates than most other industries

Safety tips for First Aid

  • Encourage all farm workers and family members to have first aid training
  • Keep well stocked first aid kits around the farm (in workshops, on tractors, in the ute etc.)
  • Call triple zero (000) in an emergency even if you think help is too far away. You will get advice over the phone that may save your life

Falls

  • Falls are the most common cause of farm injuries for people over 55
  • Falls can result in serious injury, including admission to hospital or permanent care

Safety tips for Falls

  • Put extra grab rails on trucks, headers, tractors, steps, cattle years etc.
  • Apply non-slip tape or matting to make surfaces less slippery
  • Use a safety harness if you have to work in high areas
  • Minimise the need to work at heights
  • Make sure areas around buildings are well lit
  • Clean up the yard and paddocks
  • Wear shoes or boots that fit well and have grip soles
  • Exercise to stay strong and flexible
  • Always be alert to risks

Electricity

  • Electrocution on farms is often due to contact with overhead power lines or working with frayed leads in the workshop
  • You do not even have to touch a power line to be electrocuted as the power can arc over small distances
  • Harvest time on farms is particularly risky as tall machinery moves under and around overhead powerlines

Safety tips for Electricity

  • Check cords and switches regularly, always get a qualified electrician to do your electrical work
  • Take extra care when moving farm equipment near power lines
  • Look up and avoid power lines
  • Disconnect the power, if you can do so safely, before you touch or try to help a victim of electric shock
  • Call triple zero (000) immediately

Children

  • Around 20 children under 15 years of age die each year as a result of injuries on Australian farms. Many more are injured
  • Four wheel bikes (sometimes called ATVs are the most common cause of injury for children aged 5-14 on farms
  • Drowning is the cause of around 35%-40% of all on child deaths on the farm. Children under five are at greatest risk

Safety tips for Children

  • Make your farm safer for children
  • Make a safe fenced area for children to play
  • Make sure children wear seatbelts and restraints in cars, utes and trucks
  • Don't let children ride on tractors or quad bikes (ATVs) without supervision. Don't let them ride in the back of utes
  • Teach older children safe use of farm bikes and four wheelers
  • Make children wear helmets when riding bikes and horses
  • Supervise children around the farm and near dams and waterways

Chemicals

  • Chemicals such as insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and fuels are commonly handled on farms. They can cause serious health problems if used unsafely
  • Chemicals residues are easily moved from the farm into the house on clothing and shoes
  • Chemical exposure may cause both acute (short term) and long term health issues

Safety tips for Chemicals

  • Treat all chemicals with caution and follow instructions carefully
  • Wear protective clothing, cover exposed skin and wear gloves, goggles and a face mask if required
  • Store chemicals safely, out of children's reach and away from seeds and fertilisers

Animals

  • Livestock can be unpredictable and aggressive, especially while yarding and, in the breeding, calving or lambing season
  • Cattle can be dangerous when scared or excited. Handling animals calmy is safer for you and the cattle
  • Male animals (e.g. bulls, ram and stallions) can be very aggressive during mating season and need to be handled with care at all times
  • Horses are common cause of injury, especially for children
  • Dogs can bite people, especially young children. Children need to learn that farm dogs are not pets

Safety tips for Animals

  • Make sure all workers are trained in how to handle livestock and horses.
  • Keep sheds, yards and equipment in good repair
  • Know you animals behaviour and watch them at all times when you work with them
  • Make sure helmets are worn when riding horses
  • Be careful with visitors and bystanders to farms

Workshop

  • Up to 20% of farm injuries presenting to hospital emergency departments are caused by farm maintenance work
  • Eye and hand injuries are very common
  • Use the right personal protective equipment (PPE) in the workshop. For example, earmuffs, safety glasses or gloves

Safety tips for Workshop

  • Keep the workshop tidy, clean up spills and use non slip flooring
  • Have a look at the design and layout of your workshop and discuss how to improve use of the space with everyone who uses the workshop
  • Keep children and visitors out of the workshop

Working alone

  • Farmers often work alone
  • Some jobs should not be done alone. For example: tasks involving high powered equipment, toxic or flammable chemicals, or confused spaces such as silos
  • If you are injured it could be hours before someone becomes worried about you, even longer before they find you

Safety tips for Working alone

  • Make sure you are trained for the job you are about to go out and do alone
  • Let someone know where you are going and when you intend to return
  • Take a mobile, pager or two way radio and keep in touch
  • Have regular check in times

Tanks, Silos & Pits

  • Silos, tanks, pits and other enclosed structures present a hazard to farmers and children
  • A person can be drawn under moving grain or fertiliser in a silo within seconds

Safety tips for Tanks, Silos, & Pits

  • Make sure all ladders are above child height and fitted with a device to prevent child access
  • Follow proper safety procedures when you work in any confined space
  • Never work alone in confined spaces

Skills & Training

  • Being aware of safety procedures and using them will save lives
  • Accidents often occur when people are tired. Have regular breaks and be extra vigilant at the end of a long day
  • Farm safety checks can help you identify risks and training needs
  • Updating your skills and undertaking extra training will make you a safer, more productive and more profitable farmer in the long run

Safety tips for Skills & Training

  • Brush up on your skills regularly. Don't assume you know it all.
  • Set a good example - use safety equipment and protective gear
  • Make sure all farm workers, including contractors are properly trained and understand all safety procedures
  • Conduct a farm safety audit

Quad Bikes

  • Quad bikes, sometimes called four wheeler bikes or all terrain vehicles (ATVs) are not safe for use in all terrains
  • Quad bikes are not stable and have been involved in many injuries and deaths mostly in rollover accidents
  • Inexperienced riders and not using protective equipment like helmets are the most common causes of injuries and death involving quad bikes

Safety tips for Quad Bikes

  • Make sure all riders are trained and follow safety precautions
  • Don't carry passengers on an ATV, it affects stability and control
  • Follow manufacturers instructions if you are carry extra loads like sprays or hay bales as they greatly affect stability
  • Use a ute where possible, it's safer than a four wheeler

Noise

  • Many farmers have some hearing damage. This is mainly from not wearing ear protection when using tractors, machinery and firearms
  • More than 60% of farmers have significant hearing loss
  • Some people who are exposed to excessive noise develop tinnitus. This causes a constant ringing sound in the ears
  • Our hearing is less acute as we age, wearing ear protection when around loud noise will help protect your hearing
  • Most hearing loss can be prevented but it cannot be cured

Safety tips for Noise

  • Provide appropriate ear protection like ear plus or ear muffs
  • Make sure ear protection is worn correctly
  • Limit daily exposure to noise and rotate tasks
  • Check the noise (decibel) levels when buying new equipment
  • Have a hearing test. Use Telscreen, a free national hearing screening service. Phone 1800 826 500 (free call)

Manual Handling

  • Manual handling is part of farming and injuries can happen easily
  • Strain injuries can keep farm workers away from work for weeks at a time
  • Injuries can happen while lifting, pushing, pulling, carrying, lowering, holding equipment, moving hay or handling stock or restraining animals

Safety tips for Manual Handling

  • Keep the load close to your body and lift with you thigh muscles
  • Organize your work area to reduce the amount of bending, twisting and stretching required
  • Plan ahead. Consider the safest possible ways to lift, carry, hold, lower, push and pull anything

Machinery

  • Farm machinery is associated with approximately 35% of traumatic deaths on farms in Australia. There are also many injuries
  • Tractors are the most common cause of death cased by rollovers and runovers
  • Other causes of injury include uncovered moving parts like unguarded chains, sprockets, pulleys, pumps, harvesting machines and augers. Hand tools such as secateurs and angle grinders are also high risks
  • Found wheel motorbikes are a leading cause of death and injury on farms and should only be ridden by experience or trained operators

Safety tips for Machinery

  • Make sure everyone is trained to use farm machinery safely
  • Have properly fitted guards and always use them
  • Use the park brake every time you stop even on flat ground
  • Keep machinery well maintained
  • Use a qualified mechanic to check your machinery

Heat Stress

  • Hot weather places extra strain on your body
  • Farmers working outside, or in sheds which have poor cooling methods, are at particular risk
  • Older people or young children have more difficultly coping with hot weather
  • There are three stages of heat stress: heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke (a medical emergency)

Safety tips for Heat Stress

  • Drink plenty of water
  • Try to stay indoors during the hottest part of the day
  • Develop a heat stroke prevention plan
  • Call triple zero (000) if someone with you is not physically coping with the heat