Stakeholders have identified several key
areas where farm health and safety R&D should be directed. These are
discussed below, and inform the development of the strategic plan.
5.1 Dissemination
and uptake of farm health and safety management strategies
Although many good recommendations to
improve farm health and safety exist, changes to farm work practices are
not occurring at a fast enough rate and the incidence of deaths, injuries
and illnesses continues to be high. Why do some results of research get
taken up and others not? Why and how do interventions work on a local and
international level? How can a philosophy of improving processes be created?
A gap exists between the identification
of improvements to work practices and their implementation on farms. Strategies
are needed to make safe work practices part of the everyday work routine.
Stakeholders have suggested that the following
actions should receive high priority in this plan:
-
Extending research into practice
-
investigating the ways research organisations
and farmer training organisations can develop skills and strategies for
better extension of research results into practice;
-
identifying unacceptable work practices and
disseminating solutions that have been invented and used by farmers already;
-
showcasing examples of effective communication
strategies
-
creating a philosophy of looking for better
processes;
-
defining occupational health and safety competencies;
-
benchmarking within agriculture and in other
industries how and why interventions work;
-
developing strategies for targeting young
farmers and children; and
-
subsidising implementation.
-
Research methodology
-
examining the effectiveness of action research,
ie research in which a change to practice is trialed and evaluated; and
-
identifying what works in agricultural extension.
The following should receive medium
priority:
-
Identifying barriers:
-
to the uptake of legislation: the role of
economics, attitudes, and age
-
to the use of personal protective equipment;
and
-
to the integration of OHS into farm management.
-
Identifying and developing change agents:
-
working with health service providers, providing
them with resources to act as change agents;
-
investigating ways industry organisations
and relevant government departments can assist with communication and extension
strategies;
-
evaluating training courses in relation to
health and safety issues; and
-
working with designers and manufacturers of
equipment, providing them with resources to act as change agents.
5.2 Statistical
needs
Stakeholders have suggested that the following
actions should receive high priority in this plan:
-
better utilisation and coordination of existing
data;
-
expansion of the types of data collected;
-
inclusion of qualitative data based on discussion
with farmers, farm
families and other farm workers;
-
commodity-specific data; and
-
documentation of existing health and safety
programs and activities.
A major requirement is to improve compatibility
of data collections so that information from various sources in the health,
agricultural and occupational health sectors can be used.
There is also a need to extend the types
of information that is collected. Priorities include: case data on injury
and disease; severity and long-term consequences; qualitative data; identification
of farm injuries; the circumstances of accidents; commodity-specific data;
and denominator data, including information on full-time, part-time and
seasonal workers.
The following should receive medium
priority:
-
creation of a common national database.
-
development of more complete and routine recording
methods for general practitioners and other health workers.
5.3 Specific hazards
Stakeholders considered that it would
be appropriate for each commodity group to conduct its own hazard analysis.
From this, specific priorities for research should be identified and plans
to address these developed. It was also recognised that some generic hazards
exist, such as those associated with tractor use, workshops, manual handling
tasks and motorcycle use. Collaboration between commodity groups to address
these hazards is desirable.
The Australian Agricultural Health Unit
has developed a methodology for consultative hazard analysis that has been
used by the dairy, sheep, pig, grains and grapes industries. This process
involves the following stages:
-
a health and safety profile is prepared by
the Australian Agricultural Health Unit;
-
key industry people take this data and review
it in relation to the phases of production to determine: physical hazards,
who is at risk, nature, frequency and severity of the risk;
-
a risk rating is given to each hazard;
-
generic guidance notes are prepared; and
-
the industry reference group conducts an audit
using this information in a three-tiered approach: generic/generic for
the industry/specific for the industry.
Training is provided to enable groups to review
the competencies required; farm safety action groups develop strategies
and oversee their implementation.
5.4 New technology
The introduction of new technology may
have implications for farm health and safety in the future. To ensure that
such implications are positive, the health and safety impact of any new
technology should be analysed during the design phase.
Consideration of health and safety impact
is already an integral part of all R&D projects in some industries.
Stakeholders considered that strategies
to facilitate this in farming should include the following:
-
research organisations require that the identification
of health and safety impacts is an integral component of all agricultural
R&D projects;
-
government organisations require suppliers
to show how health and safety has been included in the design process of
new technology;
-
disseminate research that identifies unacceptable
characteristics of existing farm machinery/technology to consumers, manufacturers
and suppliers;
-
provide examples of how health and safety
principles can be integrated into product design to consumers and manufacturers;
and
-
review performance-based legislation with
the possibility of providing some guidelines on implementation.
5.5 Emerging issues
Stakeholders recognised that the changing
structure of agriculture will have an impact on health and safety (see
Appendix 4 for a detailed list). They identified a number of emerging health
and safety issues:
-
decreasing availability, standards of and
access to health care services;
-
the need of health professionals for knowledge
and information about rural health issues;
-
mental health and suicide prevention;
-
issues for women;
-
childcare;
-
impact of injury on the family;
-
effective first aid management; and
-
rehabilitation.
It was also strongly recommended that research
results be fed into health professional and farm management training curricula.
5.6 Funding and coordination
of research
The total investment in R&D for farm
health and safety in Australia is not known. In order to give some indication
of the magnitude of such investment, the consortium involved in the development
of this plan provided information on their expenditure on farm health and
safety research (Table 1).
Table 1: Expenditure on
farm health and safety R&D by selected organisations
| Year |
Organisation |
Farm
health and safety R&D |
R&D |
% |
| 1993
- 94 |
|
$
ë000 |
$
ë000 |
|
| |
RIRDC |
162 |
17
721 |
0.91 |
| |
IWS |
500 |
39
000 |
1.28 |
| |
GRDC |
275 |
44
130 |
0.62 |
| |
MRC |
42 |
45
310 |
0.09 |
| |
Total |
979 |
146
161 |
0.67 |
| 1994
- 95 |
|
|
|
|
| |
RIRDC |
237 |
17
305 |
1.37 |
| |
IWS |
166 |
26
700 |
0.62 |
| |
GRDC |
276 |
43
769 |
0.63 |
| |
MRC |
42 |
46
167 |
0.09 |
| |
Total |
721 |
133
941 |
0.54 |
| 1995
- 96 |
|
|
|
|
| |
RIRDC |
261 |
16
246 |
1.61 |
| |
IWS |
41 |
25
700 |
0.16 |
| |
GRDC |
184 |
50
336 |
0.37 |
| |
MRC |
42 |
44
319 |
0.09 |
| |
Total |
529 |
136
601 |
0.39 |
One way to increase investment in farm health
and safety is to ensure that relevant issues are considered in all R&D
projects in agriculture. A common complaint made by farmers, researchers
and unions is that, too often, health and safety issues are not considered
early enough in a development project, if at all.
Farm health and safety R&D resources
are stretched thinly with minimal collaboration and coordination between
projects and between institutions. Information on research projects that
have been undertaken or are under way is difficult to obtain (known projects
are listed in Appendix 5). Clearly, there is a need for advocacy and enhanced
coordination in this field.
5.7 Farm health
and safety: an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Table 2 analyses the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats for farm health and safety.
Table 2: Farm health
and safety R&D: An analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats (SWOT)
Strengths
-
a number of research organisations
already doing farm health and safety R&D
-
some funding sources available
-
RIRDC farmer OHS program
-
farmers supportive
-
all stakeholders agree on the
need for participatory methodology
-
some data already available
-
criteria for best practice in
prioritising farm health and safety R&D developed
-
criteria for best practice in
farm health and safety R&D projects developed
-
farm safety action groups working
-
some industries leading the
way
|
Weaknesses
-
health and safety often at the
‘bottom of the heap’
-
deaths, injuries and illnesses
still occurring
-
database lacking in depth and
information about circumstances of injuries
-
cost of health and safety interventions
may be too high for farms subsisting
-
product/equipment design outside
Australian control
-
uptake of health and safety
not satisfactory
-
poor information about the obligations
of designers, manufacturers and suppliers under health and safety law
|
Opportunities
-
for RIRDC to assume advocacy
role
-
for coordination between groups
-
for RIRDC to take the lead role
in integration
-
for action research and investigation
of subsidies to implement health and safety
-
to develop a model farm
-
to get the message to young
farmers and children
-
provide more information about
how the legislation translates into practice
|
Threats
-
individual farmers and commodity
groups perceive opportunities as a threat
-
commodity groups focus only
on the economic outcomes of health and safety
-
initial costs and the lag time
between intervention and results
-
results of good health and safety
practice are often difficult to measure in dollar terms
|
