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Young Farmers Safety Pilot To Save Lives

Announcement posted by B.E.R.T 06 Mar 2018

Significant injury and death is a startling and shocking part of farming life, but change is in the air. 2018 has seen a horrific rate of workplace death and injury with many taking place in farming communities.

Farmers and their families are hurting. 18 people have died in Australia already from workplace accidents, many of which were in the Agricultural industry. There are organisations rolling up their sleeves to do something about it and it is nothing short of inspiring.


The latest initiative actioned by the Nation Centre for Farmers Health is one of these inspiring actions. An interactive, fun and engaging farmer safety education program sourced from Northern America has finally hit our shores after a lot of work and determination by the NCFH and facilitator Alex Robinson.  The pilot was released in February at various Secondary Colleges and Ag Colleges in Victoria. The ultimate aim was to help prevent workplace accidents and educate about Personal Protection Equipment.


Alex says “The pilot was very positive! We sourced this program from overseas, where it has had an impressive impact on farming communities. This isn’t about replacing existing learning; it is an additional resource to enhance that younger demographic's learning opportunity. The next generation needs reaching, and as we start to gather the results from the pilot, the feedback so far suggests some tangible results."

The program makes a powerful emotive connection between young farmers and the workplace with plenty of interactive facets, hands-on learning, and visual cues. It assists in upskilling and identifying risks. “The program is quite plastic; we can adapt it to different areas. We will be surveying the participants and be measuring practice and follow through, to see how the learning translates into implementation in the real world. Assessing risk and making appropriate choices, being able to read the various situations for young farmers is the outcome we are aiming for” says the passionate advocate.


Martin Stow founding director of BERT in Australia commented that “Programs such as these with a different angle, a different aspect that can help bridge the younger generation and help reduce Agriculture workplace tragedies are inspiring to say the least. We know how popular digital tools have been in this industry with our Gannawarra Council Digital transformation. Digital tools are becoming popular for all ages. However the young demographic has been most enthusiastic. It is all about making safety simple, accessible and we congratulate Farmers Health on doing just that in such a new dynamic.”


The National Centre for Farmer’s Health has education at the heart of its organisation. “It is of key importance to improve the health, safety and well-being of farm men, women and children. Rural Australians experience poorer health outcomes than their urban counterparts, and agricultural workers record higher incidences of injury, illness and work-related death than most other industries.”


For more information about new initiative go to https://www.farmerhealth.org.au/page/education


For more information about what BERT is doing for the Agriculture Industry CLICK HERE