The strategic plan has three main purposes:

• to identify priority farm health and safety research and development (R&D) needs for the period 1998-2001;

• to provide a rationale for the Farm Occupational Health and Safety Program; and

• to encourage collaboration on, and coordination of, farm health and safety R&D between farmer organisations, commodity groups, RIRDC, unions, community organisations, other R&D organisations and those involved in the uptake of research into work practices on farms.

The plan was prepared with the assistance of Ellis and Associates Pty Ltd and followed extensive consultation with interested parties including farmers, representatives of the Country Women’s Association (CWA), the Rural Women’s Network, the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU), industry groups, Farmsafe Australia Incorporated (Farmsafe), Worksafe Australia (Worksafe), state health and safety authorities, research organisations, Federal Government departments, rural training organisations and health professionals.

Consultation occurred by way of meetings with a steering committee, a meeting with the Australian Agricultural Health Unit, a survey of stakeholders during August 1996 and a workshop convened in Sydney in September 1996 attended by 34 stakeholders (listed in Appendix 2).

This version of the Plan also incorporates some recent revisions by the Program Management Committee.

• To improve the mechanisms for the uptake of recommendations for health and safety on farms;
• To develop a national network of databases, with comprehensive case data on farm-related deaths, injuries and illness, and the circumstances and experiences surrounding these;
• To develop specific hazard profiles for each commodity group;
• To ensure that the health and safety impact of all R&D projects in agriculture are an integral part of the design of new technology;
• To increase Australian investment in farm health and safety R&D;
• To improve the use of available resources through national coordination; and
• To ensure that farm health and safety R&D projects deliver measurable benefits and contribute to future needs for the farming community.

4 Health and safety in agriculture
 

4.1 Costs – Human and Economic 4.2 Leading causes of injury 4.3 Institutional response

Each year on Australian farms there are

• Approximately 100 deaths
• Approximately 6000 compensated injury/disease occurrences
• Almost 1 in 3 workers in the Agriculture sector affected by some type of occupational injury or illness.

Costs were incurred for the following reasons:

• 82% of injuries on farms required medical treatment and incurred costs such as medical, pharmaceutical, physiotherapy and transport;

• About 7% of reported farm injuries resulted in actual loss of farm production;

• Replacement on-farm labour was required in 13% of reported injuries. This was in addition to work time loss reported in 65% of farm injuries (average 12 days);

• Between 11% and 15% of injuries on farms resulted in a workers’ compensation claim, amounting to an estimated total payout of $47 million . In addition, payments would have been made under separate accident/illness insurance cover, held by about 10% of farmers.

4.2 Leading causes of injury
According to the most recent health and safety profile of Australian farmers, farm families and farm workers by the Australian Agricultural Health Unit (Coleman et al. 1996):

• tractor roll-overs and run-overs are the leading cause of on-farm deaths for adults;

• drowning and machinery are the leading causes of death of children on farms;

• farmers and farm managers have a higher death rate from colo-rectal cancer and motor vehicle traffic accidents than do other occupational groups. Agricultural workers experience higher death rates from ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, motor vehicle traffic accidents and suicide than do other occupational groups;

• hospital separation data (non-fatal illness and injury) indicates that leading causes of morbidity on farms are:

• motor vehicle non-traffic accidents and other road vehicle accidents (including animal ridden);

• injury by other animals;

• injury by agricultural machinery;

• cutting and piercing;

• poisoning by petroleum products, agricultural chemicals and other substances.

4.3 Institutional response
The first national forum on farm health and safety was held in 1988. In the period since, a significant organisational infrastructure has been established. Important elements of this are: Farmsafe, the Australian Agricultural Health Unit, a network of farm safety action groups around the country and the increasing involvement of the commodity-specific industry associations.

RIRDC has played a leadership role in R&D in this area since the establishment of its farm occupational health and safety program in 1990. The current members of the advisory committee for this program and the steering committee for this planning exercise are shown in Appendix 3.

Other organisations have also made significant contributions to farm health and safety R&D. Problems relating to specific commodity groups are often dealt with by R&D organisations such as GRDC, MRC and the IWS. Research to address generic issues has been funded by organisations such as the Department of Primary Industries and Energy, Rural Health Support Education and Training Program and state occupational health and safety and health authorities.

Other organisations that have conducted research include: Farmsafe, the Queensland Division of Workplace Health and Safety, the University of Ballarat, Worksafe Australia and the Kondinin Group.