Ten Thousand Attend FarmSafe Safety Courses
Ten thousand farmers have attended the FarmSafe rural injury prevention programme since its nationwide launch 18 months ago, making it the most successful farm safety initiative ever. FarmSafe was established 18 months ago by ACC and Federated Farmers, and is delivered through a consortium of the Agriculture ITO, Telford Rural Polytechnic, and Agriculture NZ Ltd.
Now known as FarmSafe Awareness, following the addition of two new programmes - FarmSafe Plans and FarmSafe Skills, it is one of nine Safer Industries groups promoted by ACC to encourage safe practices in high injury-risk industries. FarmSafe Awareness targets the prevention of common injuries in each farming sector. FarmSafe Plans advises farmers on the preparation of an approved Farm Safety Management Plan for their own property and will help participants come to grips with Health & Safety legal requirements. The FarmSafe Skills programme is a series of individual workshops that are designed to teach and assess competence in practical farming tasks such as ATV riding, chainsaw usage, tractor driving, and animal handling.
All FarmSafe programmes are completely free, lunch is provided, and participants get a workbook, a CD-ROM on hazard management and ACC injury prevention literature. Self-employed farmers attending FarmSafe Awareness receive a voucher for $40 to purchase personal protective equipment of their choice, plus a 50 percent discount off their purchase.
Course evaluation by the Injury Prevention Research Unit at Otago University shows more than 80 percent of participants rate the course as well above average to excellent.
Further information on local FarmSafe courses is available from freephone 0800 545 747 |
Contact for Enquiries
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 00 83 33
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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